


Manner Maketh Bolin

by Dantegrey



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bolin-centric, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:11:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 56,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dantegrey/pseuds/Dantegrey
Summary: Awakening as Bolin, was not what I expected at the end of my days. I have been called Percival, soldier, father, that bastard, but in this new world, I am simply, Bolin. Benders, Equalist, Spirits, and the Avatar, dear god this is a bloody mess; but there is no reason to be unpolite, after all; Manners maketh Man. [AU/ slight crossover with Kingsman] [Repost of my Fic on FF]





	1. Welcome to your new world

 

I hate hangovers, and yes, I know that if that was the case, I should have not drunk so much.

I am dying of cancer; brain cancer to be precise; is in stage four and the treatment is Not going well. So excuse me if I drunk so much that I can say sod off to the pain. Medicine is not advanced enough to deal with it, so alcohol and willpower are the only weapons left I had to deal with the dammed sickness.

So, yeah, alcohol is cheaper and pretty much does the same bloody effect for what the docs told me. I am in stage four and something about metastasis and impossible to operate, where pretty much the only diagnosis that came my way.

In exchange for a night of rest, an entirely new world of pain; until I had a bottle nearby. 

I gotta admit that it's not entirely healthy, but honestly, I had a depression the size of a continent and alcohol made me...more social. It prevents me from being a complete asshole to the rest of my family and the few good friends that stood my side; even if it is obvious that I do not deserve them.

Sorry, I kind of get angsty and broody very easily these days; I must apologize for that. Life has dealt these cards to me, and like it or not, I had to live; whats left of it, that´s it; with them.

In all, I try to summon all the will I can and help my family whenever I can, as much as I can, considering my sorry state. I can not complain about my family, they are the bloody best, although I am not.

Now; after this quick introduction about my sorry ass; you will understand, that awakening with a hangover was not a novelty to me. What it was a bloody surprise was it was only a hangover. Sure, my head hurt, but it was far from the chronically, head splitting, painful headache that crippled me most mornings.

In fact, I feel relatively great; better than I have felt for the year that I have pass fighting an uphill battle against a brain cancer. That´s kind of odd.

Groaning, I get up and massaged my temples trying to fend off a little the migraine; it is easy that I expected. My sore muscles screamed to me; I have slept in a very uncomfortable position, so it seems, however, there come to the first shock of the day. 

I am young, waaay young than I should be.

A little personal info; I am almost ninety years old, a wrinkle, almost bald, white old man with a brain cancer.

My hand is young, my arm is muscular, I have hair…

Do not freak out; I am sure that there is a perfectly reasonable explanation about what the heck is going on here. Personally, I think I am hallucinating or something along those lines; a dream that my own mind pulls on me to protect myself; although I could be completely wrong, I am kind of at a loss here. 

Raising from my bed, a comfortable; if not a bit spartan; a bed of wood, pretty similar to those on where I lived during my adolescence; when I worked at the factory of the city. The rest of the room was of a similar theme. Frankly, it was a bit of a blast from the past, I live in similar accommodations in my younger days, and that made me smile for a second. 

Then I drag myself into the bathroom, switching on the lights of the room; and observe myself in the mirror of the bathroom. 

Okayyyyy…I am so shocked that I just stare like an idiot to the one that stared back at me.

Who the fuck is this guy?.

I am on a completely different body of my own; I deducted this little fact because I moved and the body reacted to what I wanted to do. Leaving apart that, I have not the slightest idea what the heck is going on here.

I am Asian, I think, a youngster, a teenager. I have a stock solid complexion; after my time as an amateur boxer, I can say that this body had the perfect foundation for a super heavy class boxer; black hair, a bit of a chubby face and pale green eyes. 

I am a bit freaked out, scratch that, I am totally freak out.

Oh, and I have been staring at my hangover face with a raised eyebrow for quite a bit of time. I think I am entitled to some confusion and shock; still, I am young again, a healthy and strong body actually. A body without bloody cancer that is killing it. 

I am young, in relatively good shape, and without cancer making the twilight years of my life a torture.

All in all, I am kind of fortunate.

“Good morning Bolin”. A voice sounded at my back and I turned to see who was speaking to me.

Another Asian boy was talking to me; he was very similar to me. A more thin complexion and with golden eyes, but the facial features and the black were similar. A sibling perhaps? judging from his appearance, he was more or less the same age as me.

“Uh”.

Now, that was a Shakespeare level response, if I ever said one. I was being sarcastic by the way, but I do not know who…

His name is Mako, he is my brother, two street urchins that are trying to make a living in Republic City after our parents were killed by a Firebender mugger.

What in blazes?!, where that did come from?, that´s, how?, I am not, well, I am, but those were the memories of the body I was inhabiting.

Oh.

Wait, did I usurp this poor sods entire life?.

That´s disturbing and utterly wrong.

I am not a very faithful person; all my younger years working to the bone on the factories and the death of my first wife due to the horrid working conditions, soon turn my disposition to religion into a sour one. 

That being said, one does not grow up in such heavy religious environment as I was, without acquiring some ticks and a bit of a fearful respect for what religious zealotry could do. And it is better to be on the safe side of the equation and respect all religions; who knows, maybe there are right and there is something waiting for us after we kick the bucket.

Souls were a bit too abstract for me, a person that grew among the aftertaste of the smog of the industrial revolution, but it was a nice thought to have. With that being said, my soul seems to have usurped this young man body and that was disturbing on so many levels that it was not even funny. 

I felt so disgusted; and it must have shown in my face, judging from the worried looks that the boy in front of me was showing; that I bend over the toilet and puked my guts on it. For god's sake, I have; not only usurped the body of a young man but effectively killed him. 

For all intentions and purposes, this Bolin kid was no more and I had just stolen his life.

I felt guilty. I felt utterly disgusted with myself for feeling as I was feeling.

I was dying, and even if I was a total wreck; emotionally and mentally; in my original body, I was already past the acceptance phase and ready to depart to the afterlife and whatever the heck waited for me there. 

Instead, I had a second chance at living, by blatantly stealing the life of another young man.

Worst of all, I was happy.

I have been battling cancer for a year and for an old man like myself, it was an uphill battle. Not to mention I felt like a total asshole for what I was doing to my family and few real pals that stood by my side.

Now, I was young again; free of pain. Residing in a healthy and strong body, that could bend the elements? wait, what?. 

Mako was at my side in a second, as Pabu; my fire ferret pet; climbed over the toilet, chirping to me in worried tones; mimicking the worried expression of my brother. I grabbed Mako´s arm and keep puking whatever alcohol I had in my stomach; accompanied by a side ton of bile. 

The latter came from nausea that I was experimenting with what I have done or someone has done with me and Bolin. Even if I was nothing but the chew toy of a disgusting bastard of a superior entity that has pulled this one on me; I was the one that had to deal with the cold, hard, fact that I have pretty much, erased this Bolin kid and took his freaking life for myself.

Mako and Pabu stood by my side, and that only made it worst. I was not Bolin, but they see Bolin and it was clear as a day that they were a tight knitted bunch, a real family. And I was like a parasite that has stolen Bolin from them.

To be honest, Mako would be within his rights to roast my sorry ass with his Lightningbend for what I have done to him. Mako loved his little brother, it was the only family hey had left and I have killed Bolin, leaving Mako alone.

Bending, I am confused by that one; people can "bend" the elements? how does that even work?.

According to Bolin´s memories; Mako was a Firebender and individual that could bend fire to his will through Martial Arts? how does that even work?. I was a boxer in my youth; I even won a national championship, add my time as a soldier in the two World Wars and I think I could say that I understood how violence and combat works. 

But this Martial Arts magic? this is a new level of weird.

I saw a lot of weird stuff in the wars, but for all I saw, I never saw anybody bending the elements like this body knew it could. A deep part of me was pretty excited about this miracles; like a child that saw magic for the first time, even if it was just parlor tricks; and really wanted to see if they were real or just a trick of my mind to escape from the reality on where I was now. 

“Easy, Bolin, easy", helped me, Mako. The older brother of Bolin was worried for his brother; I can listen to it in his voice. And it only made me feel worst that I already felt. 

“Ugh”, I poetically groaned, before another span made me convulse.

I was a freaking poet today; Milton would be proud of my eloquence.

Yes, sarcasm and snark against the horror of what I have done. I developed that tick pretty earlier in my life. War does that kind of thing to you.

One could think that, as a war veteran, I would be less impacted by what I have done to Bolin. Well, I have killed before; it was impossible not to kill someone if you are serving as a soldier, during the two worst conflicts the nineteen century.

It was almost insulting; I survived two World Wars and cancer was finally killing me.

During the First war; I was barely a teenager and the soldiers kept me around as a convenient helper; I did a lot of ungrateful jobs, like toilet cleaning, corpse digging and the such; that killed my empathy quick. On the Second Great War, I was on the front lines, and boy, I was scared out of my mind ninety percent of the time.

In resume, I knew what it was to kill somebody; but I did as a soldier, on the battlefield; this was completely different.

Bolin was just snuffed and replaced by me. Easy as that, no one gave Bolin a chance, no one told him that he was going to be killed. Good lord, if I knew about this beforehand I would have preferred to die. I was old, Bolin was a young man with a family that loved him and I had nothing against the poor chump.

He was not the enemy, he was not a fellow soldier trying to kill me, he was not a menace to me in any way of shape, and by some cosmic joke that I do not even begin to see how it can be bloody funny; I have stolen his body and soul.

So, I think I am allowed some ranting about how messed up this shit was.

“Okay, no more alcohol for you”, tried to joke Mako and I did all I could to chuckle between spans.

Mako did not deserve this, the little red ferret thing did not either; I have killed his owner and caretaker after all, but I felt that a bit of charade to quell their fear would be in order. I needed some time to sort my own thoughts in all this bloody mess and the memories of a body that was not my own.

Oh, this is going to be bloody confusing.

“I think you should get back to bed”. Even in such a mocking tone; I could perfectly ear the worry that was hiding in his voice.

Nodding and grumbling I used his help to get back to bed and pretty much fall on it; shutting my eyes and groaning in a mixture of nausea and headache. Pabu quickly climbed on me, resting near the side of my head; quickly touching my hair with his snout in silent support.

Bolin loved the little furry thing; he was almost strangled by some kind of ugly ass snake to save the little Fire Ferret, and since then, they have been inseparable.

“I need to get back work on the power station”, announced Mako from the entrance of the room. “Are you going to be okay?”.

I lazily raise a thumbs up and a groaning affirmation. I can not see it, but I am pretty sure that Mako was not entirely convinced of it. However, they both know that Mako´s blue-collar job as electricity generator was one of the few reasons why they are not living in the streets again.

I need time to sort all this mess out, I need to focus and see what the heck is going here. Boy, this mess is something out of a bad comic, like those that my grandchildren loved. Mind you, that I am pretty sure that the protagonist never has bad days, and I was having a very bad day right now.

Mako left the apartment; a place that the owner of the Pro-bending arena left Bolin and him, as they train to be Pro-benders; and I turned around in the bed. I stare at the ceiling; almost on auto-pilot, my body started to scratch the fur of Pabu. The ferret seems to be content with that, although, it did not move from my side. 

I am Bolin, now, but at the same time, I am someone else.

I am confused as hell, and guilty. I felt worse than the bloody Satan about what I have done to the poor chump, but the only thing I can do right now is to try to honor Bolin, by being the best man I could. 

Is it a hypocrite as hell from my part? dear god, yes it is. But I do not know what more I can do, I am seriously out of my deep here.

Judging from what I recall of the memories of the boy; I am in a poor joke of the nineteen twenties but with people that can Martial Art the elements. Man, if people had this bending in my wars, the world would be a charred rock by now.

Fortunately, the tech was not that advanced; just the mere idea of a Nuke in this world was enough to make me shiver. I saw what that bullshit did to the Japs and I am not eager to see a Bis in this world.

Okay, bending; I am a bender, also, Earthbender for what I can recall; steam, gasoline, electricity; those are common things. Cabbage Corporation? what the heck? who in his sane mind call his business like that? anyhow, a man called Sato created the first cars, trains, and zeppelins. 

So far, I am familiar with all the things that exist in this world; there is old tech, compared to my world; the only discrepancy is the bending and spirits.

Wait for a second, Spirits; with Capital Letters; and someone called the Avatar? is he some kind of Jesus kind of individual but with these bending superpowers or something.

Uh, yeah, he or she; as there have been several Avatars already in this world; is a powerful and unique figure that pretty much acts as a mediator between Nations and the Spirit World. Go figure, this world has its own Jesus.

A Jesus that can bend the elements to his or her´s will and kick ass like the best. Is quite different from what I knew from my old world, although, this Avatar is like a comic book character from my point of view. It would be interesting to meet this era Avatar, now that the previous, a man called Aang, died.

But first come first.

I am Bolin.

I despise myself for this; I maybe not a stranger to death and violence but I am not a freaking murderer. I was a soldier, and as a soldier, I fought and killed dozens of enemies; but never killed someone just for the laughs. Much less a freaking innocent kid that has done nothing wrong.

That is perhaps the biggest of my conundrums. Bolin was not a freaking kraut, determined to brain me; Bolin was just a kid, trying to survive in his era and not be a fucking dead-weight to Mako, who was trying his bloody best to provide a living for both of them.

Now, out of nowhere, I come and kill Bolin and took his life for myself. 

It is seriously disturbing on so many levels that are not even funny.

Mako was out, working on the power station. The older brother of Bolin can Lightningbend like the best, and recharge the power plant was a very legal work for people like him, that could bend lightning. Not a common talent among Firebenders, but enough to make a profit out of it.

Unfortunately, Mako was still a teenager, both Bolin and he were twelve and fourteen years old respectively, and even if the station overseer turns a blind eye to his age; Mako was not physically ready to Lightning bend for hours. Although, the older brother was stubborn as a freaking mule and will never admit this. 

As a person that knows how shitty the 20ies really were for factory workers; I can relate and empathize with them. I had to survive with what little had left, and I bury my first wife for the unhealthy conditions on where we had to work. 

Thankfully, this world was way more eco-friendly and sanitary than my own; although for the moment, with the progression of tech and factories I fear that the smog will soon become a common thing in Republic City.

I am lost and to be honest, I can little more than sleep the hangover and the nausea; Bolin´s body is not accustomed to alcohol and was having a bad time processing it, so I shut my eyes and tried to catch some Zzs before I made any rushing decisions and screw all this mess even more.

As soon as I fall into the darkness, I found myself having an out of the body experience.

Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous now.

“Hello stranger”, a warm and old voice called for me from the sides and when I turn to see what was I found myself looking at an old Chinese man, sitting behind a very expensive Chinese Tea set.

“Uh, hello to you to, good sir”. Considering that spirits are a real thing; a bit abandoned, but real; in this world; for what I know I could be talking to Satan, so politeness and manners were never out of place.

Manners maketh man, wait, where did that come from?.

“Ah, manners, such a rarity these days; they are quite welcome", chuckled the old man and signaled in front of him, offering me a place to sit. 

“Excuse if I appear confused and wary”, I took a sit in front of the tea set, “but I am utterly out of my deep here; would you be so kind of explain me; what on earth is going on?”.

The old man, dressed in a green tunic, smiled at me under his beard. He kind of reminded me of myself, before cancer and the shit that life throw at me. 

I could recognize a war veteran a mile away, and I was pretty sure that he has recognized a veteran in me; young body non-withstanding. Survival, paranoia, the alertness of those that have lived the battlefield and survive; is etched in our body language.

“Let's begin with some introductions", the man served two couples of tea and I must admit that it does smell good. I liked tea, good tea was hard to come by and quite the expensive luxury. 

“I am Iroh", presented himself the man and offered a cup to me. I took it with thanks and took a sip of the liquid, instantly liking the concoction; this was really good tea. 

“This is really good tea”, I smiled at Iroh. Iroh smile beamed as if he has seen a fellow believer in a land of heathens, but soon it falter when I spoke next. “However, I am not whom I am appearing to be”.

“Yes”, Iroh sighed sadly. “I know that it must be confusing, but it spoke well of you that even after all you have lived; you still have the compassion in you to felt guilt and mourn the loss of the young man inside of you”.

“I would have preferred Not to”, I sipped some more tea, enjoying the taste, “I am an old man, despite all my whining and grumbling, I was ready to die and be done with it; stealing this young man´s life is wrong and disturbing”.

“I could not agree more with you", nodded Iroh, sad and solemn. "But in your case is a bit more different; Bolin is not death, well, not as we understood death anyways, Bolin and you, kind of have mixed into one entity". 

“Beg your pardon?”, I raised an eyebrow.

I am not much for all that metaphysical mumbo-jumbo about souls, transmigration, magic, whatever the heck. Although, it is a very real thing in this world and even Bolin; not precisely the most spiritual of the individuals; knew and acknowledged this fact.

“What is your name?”, asked Iroh and I replied instantly.

“Bolin”.

Wait, what?.

I am not Bolin, I am…. This is odd, I knew that I am not Bolin, that all the memories of Bolin are not my own, I remember the two Big Wars, I remember the fabrics, Verdun, Monte Casino, Arden, Canterbury, London. But for all that´s sacred I can not remember my own freaking name.

In fact, the only thing I could remember as a name was just a title that was not even mine.

I am Percival.

“See?", smiled Iroh; it was a supportive smile. "You have merged with Bolin; there are no two individuals, just Bolin with all the knowledge, experience and wisdom that you had from your previous life". 

“Then why I know that I am not Bolin". I contradicted Iroh, after all, I was convinced that I was not Bolin and yet I was told his name as my own. It is as freaking confusing as it sounds. 

“Because Bolin was the weaker of the two”, sighed Iroh. “Despite all the good nature of the boy, your soul was stronger than his”. Iroh suddenly smiled and took an empty cup of tea.

“Bolin was water, clear and pure", Iroh explained filling the cup with hot water, "you are the tea leaves, solid, strong, full of life experiences and knowledge". Iroh put the leaves into the hot water and soon they changed the content of the cup into the same pale green than the eyes of Bolin. 

“Together, you are better than the sum of your parts”.

“I will be damned, I kind of get it", I chuckled and as absurd as it could sound, I felt a lot less guilty. I have not killed the boy, heck, the boy has killed me, as I can even remember my own bloody name. 

“Although”, I can not but snark a little to Iroh; even knowing him for less than five minutes and I already could say that the man´s love for tea was a bit too much. “Tea metaphors?, really?, Mister Iroh, you love tea, way too much”.

“Guilty as charged”, laughed Iroh, good heartily.

I will admit that Iroh and I soon become good friends.

We bonded over a common love for tea; almost an obsession in his case; but we were both old war veterans that have seen too much and understood how high the price of blood, really was.

Becoming a good friend with a Spirit was not something that I expected yesterday, but it could have been worse. Also, Iroh did explain several things to me that explain pieces of what´s going on here.

Reincarnation is a fickle thing; the same powers that rule over the matter were also worried that something in the future is going to blast the balance into pieces; that something; long into the future, is going to affect the fabric of the reality and put the entire existence at risk. 

Ironically, I was Bolin, in another timeline and universe. Essentially the same soul but with different flavor and experiences, so, the powers over this reality decided to give us a bit of push, and when I conveniently kicked the bucket, put me into the reincarnation circle, inside of myself.

Destiny was not written on stone, but guidelines and possibilities were practically assured that something ugly is going to happen and Bolin will be part of some of the events that will take place in the future and that will cause severe repercussions for the entire world. 

On what role? no bloody idea, maybe only as a witness, may only be as part of the background, or a vital part of the script?. No one really knows, but Bolin will be important, somehow, in the future and the Spirits that pull this fast one on me, decided that it would be a good idea to gave Bolin; me; an extra ace under our sleeve.

As Percival, whatever that was; I understood the need of being careful and always be prepared, but at the same time I was a bit peeved with the Spirits for this. Bolin, I, Spirits, this is bloody confusing; may be the same, but we had our lives and even if we have merged, I still see myself as a parasite more than a symbiotic.

Well, it was a good thing that Iroh provide me with some answers; in my darker moments I was considering the idea of a knife to the wrist, but now, it would an insult to Bolin, to us, to die when we have all the life ahead of us.

And I really must stop, thinking and speak in the plural, I am Bolin, now, as utterly wrong and strange as it sounds, and the least that I can do, is to make sure that the boy becomes the best man he could.

And it was not an easy task, mind you.

Bolin was a gentle soul at heart and witnessing the assassination of his parents in front of his eyes has left a mark on him.

Bolin was strong, very much so, he had the body and the skill to be one of the most powerful benders ever, but every time he attacked with his bending skills, Bolin´s subconscious remember the death of his parents and subconsciously hampered himself.

I don't have the same problem; I have blood in my hands, I have killed in battle, taking lives in the name of a country, an ideology or just to survive another day and be back to my family. Bolin was pulling punches all the time; me?, I kill mosquitoes with nuclear bombs.

Now, it was just a matter of tapping into the potential that I, Bolin, had and see where does it guide us.

On that front, Iroh recommended me to do not only focus on the bending. 

In this day and age, bending has become something way different from what it was.

Back in the day, bending was more spiritual and an art, that pure combat skills. With the pass of time and the apparition of different technologies that leveled the field between benders and non-benders, bending becomes more mundane, than the spiritual art that it was in the past. 

Iroh himself, become one of the most powerful Firebenders of his age, not because he mastered fire, but because he understood and study the interactions of the elements. Also, he traveled to the Spirit World and become enlightened by it, becoming Spirit Touch, a person that could, see, touch and even mediate with Spirits.

Technically, only the Avatar could mediate between the two worlds, but the Avatar was not omnipotent and a helping hand was never a bad thing. The plus of becoming a better person and more powerful bender through that experiences was a nice bonus too.

So, I have quite the task ahead of me.

I must become the best man that Bolin could be and prepare for an unknown and vital task; or tasks, the number was also unknown; that would fall on my lap at some time in the future. Unfortunately, I had no idea of what kind of task will that be; it could be something akin to my experience on the war or it would be something as simple of a kind word at the right moment, who knows. 

Iroh and I parted ways as friends, and I took good note of seeking out the wise man, whenever I found myself in the Spirit World; as a parting gift, Iroh revealed to me, some of his own tricks when he was in the mortal world.

As an Earthbender; and soon Metalbender, if I had a say in the matter; Firebending Katas are not useful for me, but Iroh show me that Zuko; his own nephew, used Firebending as it was Waterbending, channeling fire as it was akin to waves. 

Now, that was interesting; elements are not as different as people believe and everyone can learn from others, it was just a matter of seeing past the surface differences and recognize that we are all sacks of meat at the end.

Firebenders or Waterbenders, they bleed red in the same way, they cry in the same way, laugh, depress and live their lives the same way. Bending the elements was pretty much the same way.

Fire like a wave, earth like a hurricane, air like an avalanche; only the Avatar can even dream of pulling that one out of his or her hat; but for mortals, it was possible to achieve a level of mastery that would reach legendary status.

But first comes first; I am trapped in a fourteen years old body, so the sooner I get to work, the better. And I have to have a conversation with Mako, the boy deserved something better than me trying to pull a charade that the old Bolin was still around. 

It would be an interesting change in our dynamic, but my brother deserved better. Mako has worked his fingers to the bone taking care of me since the death of our parents, I cant but respect that and by so, I will try to help him become the best man he could, instead of being forever dragged by me.

Awakening into the apartment that the arena owner has borrowed us was not a pleasant experience; the hangover was still there but on the positive side of things, horrid nausea and guilt of what I have done were gone. 

It was a relief, truly.

Taking care of the evening routine, as I have awakened around the seven pm; I showered myself and brawled a little with Pabu. The ferret needed to be cleaned as well, but the little beast resisted each step with all his might.

After a refreshing shower, I stepped out of my room and took a look around the place. Bolin had the memories of the place, it was a nice condo on top of the arena. A bit spartan, but the wooden furniture was in good condition and it has all the amenities and commodities a pair of kids like Mako and I would need.

I stepped into the kitchen and took out some food for Pabu, as a reward for the bath; at the same time, I started to explore what kind of gastronomy did these people have. Bolin was not a cook, but he knew the basic enough to make myself an idea of the kind of things that they ate regularly. And a shit ton of takeout, for what I can recall. 

Anyhow, a good onion soup and some good food with be good for me. Mako will surely return exhausted from the power station, so a good and filling food would be a nice welcome for him as well. It is on the cards, that Mako will bring takeout, as neither of them was precisely master chefs, but their economy does not allow for such expenses these days.

Almost in auto-pilot, I did cook a simple dinner, clean the place around a little and eye the few possessions that we had in the apartment. It was devoid of any personality, for the simple reason that neither of the brothers had money to indulge in hobbies. The only thing that stood out was the gym like a machine, furniture, and the sort. 

Hardly a surprise, considering that they live on the top of the Pro-bending Arena. Old man Toza helped them to start as possible Pro-benders, they had the talent, but they are raw and lacked any kind of serious training.

Bolin owned Toza a lot, the old man saved them from the streets and give them a chance. It was a very common thing these days, as much as the people think benders had an easy life and a pass to success, the harsh truth is that few benders get to something in their lives. 

Case in point; the richest man of Republic city was a non-bender. Benders, to be completely honest, had only three real options in Republic city.

Crime, Pro-bending, and factories.

Only the two first were available for all benders. Crime always pays, that was one of the reasons why so many benders turn to gangs, moobs and the such. Pro-bending was not as cracked as people think it is; gear was expensive, training was expensive unless you got yourself a good sponsor, you are going to be struggling to made months end.

Oh, and the police; who was always eager to recruit some more Metalbenders. Truthfully, all benders could enter the police, but the majority of the real field work was done by Metalbenders with their armors and metal whips that could subdue easily all kind of benders. 

So, in a resume, benders in Republic city was not a dream job; contrary to what the non-bending populace believe. I personally compare them to rock stars; once a bender gets some kind of achievement, everybody believes, every bender was in the same boat. They forgot about the hundreds that fall on the way up to the top. 

I lack any information about how it works in the rest of the Nations; and the radio seems obsessed with Republic city, anything outside of the city was passed over as if it was of no importance. This entire place reeks of New York in the twenties and that was a nightmare on its own.

Considering the Eastern roots of this world, Republic city is like a rash on the surface of the world. They have begun to industrialize and that was something not good; not in a world that has been in such a balance with nature so far. Smog was the last thing this people needs, and turning bending into such a mundane activity was another botched up thing that should be corrected as soon as possible.

Frankly, the Avatar should be pointing out these bloody things. Industrialization; especially lights and plumbing, etc; was good over the paper but they have yet to realize the kind of cost that such a thing has in the world around them.

Not to mention that the Spirits are going to be seriously pissed off at the shit that will be flooding the natural emplacements close to factories.

If I recall correctly, there is a dark piece of trivia from the Hundred Year Wars of this world, were the factories of the Fire Nation polluted a river and the Avatar had to calm a seriously ticked off spirit. My memory of the tale was a bit skewed up, and I am sure that I am mixing tales, but the point remains.

Just wait until this rampaging industrialization hit a place with a serious Spirit resting and the Avatar will have its hands full with the shit hitting the fan.

With dinner made and the apartment spot clean; uh, I have just realized that I am a very nice househusband; I set the table and took a seat on the couch, petting Pabu with a distracted gesture. 

Time to get some kind of game plan here. What I have and what I can get.

I am an Earthbender, I am of strong complexion and I am Spirit touched. That was a good resume. So, I need to train, to see the world and to learn as much as I could about bending, spirits, cultures, people, etc.

Now that I thought about it, I am pretty sure that that´s how the Avatar does to connect with all the world.

Mastering the elements means traveling to the Nations, learn from masters from there; and living with them during all that time; and that translates into an understanding of how they work, live and think. 

Perfect for a mediator between the Nations.

I think I am going to rip a page of the Avatar book and did something similar.

I am a fourteen years old boy, meaning that I will only manage to enter in a pro-bending team once I become eighteen years old. I have about four years, more or less, to learn as much as I could from the world, before I get back to Republic City and become a Pro-bender along my brother.

From what I can infer of what vague hints I am allowed to know, Republic City will be pivotal in the events on where I will be involved. That means that I should not get too far from this damned city. Sure, the founders had all the good intentions of the world, but sometimes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. That, and the fact that the next generation is blinded by all this shiny new bullshit and does not think twice about the consequences of their acts. 

I hope that the new Avatar would be more reasonable and will try to hammer some common sense in the heads of the people before they get too far in the industrialization and commit the same mistakes that my world did.

Such a beautiful word, it would be a complete pity that they turn into a post-industrial mess, like Europe and America become in the thirties and forties, until the Second Big come and screw everything to oblivion.

Spirits, the mere idea of what Nuclear bombs could do here; with Spirits dangling around; made me shudder. Oh, gods, just imagine it for a bloody second, the Spirit of the Atomic Bomb.

I shivered as if someone has danced on my tomb. Shacking my head I dispel such ideas as fast as I can; with benders around, clean energy is not going to be a problem. Instead of a race of gasoline and nuclear power, benders could easily and cleanly, solute the energy problem.

The door of the apartment opened and the voice of Mako entered the apartment calling for me. Even at this distance, I can hear the tiredness in his voice. Mako´s shifts on the power station were seriously taking a toll on him. On the other hand, Mako practice with his Lightning bending was good for him to gain endurance and increase the power of his bending. 

“Welcome back, brother", I saluted the boy when he entered the house. Pabu abandoned my lap to sniff Mako and chirp at him in salute. 

Oh, considering his face; his astonished face; I must have done something odd. But I will learn about it soon, I assume.

“Bo, are you alright?”. Mako asked me, and judging from his voice, he is really worried.

As I have experience as father and grandfather lately; I can say that Mako is worried about me.

Mako´s life till this point has been pretty much, taking care of us. I am the only family he had left. Whenever one of my children botched it up, I worry and later tear them a new one. I think I did well, but in my later years, my cancer and my incipient alcoholism screw a little my perspective.

“Yes, still fighting a hangover, but for the most part I´m fine”, I shrugged. “I made dinner, by the way”.

And Mako´s jaw hit the floor.

“Uh, Bo, are you sure you are alright?”, Mako reiterated, following me to the little kitchen of the room. His doubt must be up to the eleven when I raise the top of the little pot of stew that I made after raising from my hangover. 

Mako stared at the stew, dozen of emotions showing in his face and then it hit me like a freaking hammer.

I made the same freaking recipe that our mom used to do.

I am a bloody idiot.

"I...". I don´t know what to do, I have just slap Mako in the face with an emotional bomb and I have done it, by moving on auto-pilot. It's time to pull a total bullshit move and pray to the spirits that I get out of this done without souring my bond with my brother.

“I dream of ma and pa”; I totally lied, but it called Mako´s attention from his memory lane and onto me. “I remembered the good old days, before, well, before they were taken from us”.

Mako took a seat around our little dinner table and just stared at the stew and then at me, with a hundred different emotions running on his golden eyes. I really don't want to lie to my brother, it is just wrong, but is not as if could explain a thing that I am an alternate version of Bolin, that has fused with this world Bolin. 

Okay, that little rant in my head surely sounds way weird said out loud.

Mako picked up the chopsticks and mix rice with the stew, taking a bite of the mixture and just stare at the infinite. I don't know if I get it right by freaking accident, but the trip he was taking down memory lane was clear. I serve myself a bit of what I have done and as soon as I took a bite of my own dish and I found myself following Mako down memory lane.

I nailed it; I am a better cook than I expected.

“Its pretty good, Bo”. Said Mako almost on the verge of tears.

“Just as ma did”. I am the one openly crying, Bolin, meaning me, is a big softie at heart and despite all the shit that I had in my life; a shot like this, right on the childhood, is enough to open the tear ducts.

“Bo, I, we...”. Mako tried to explain the emotions that we have been experimenting. I am as much at a loss of words as him.

“Its okay, Mako, I know”, my voice sound taken by tears, I have more than enough for the two of us.

Mako always has been a lot cooler than me; quite ironic considering that he is a Firebender, but alas, as a Lightning bender, controlling his emotions was a must or Mako risked to fry himself with his own bending. Again, contrary to popular belief, bending is as dangerous to the bender as it is for his enemies. A wrong kata, a wrong move in the movement and the bender could kill himself.

We dinner in peace and quiet for a while; emotions still running high for the both of them. That was a bit of a blessing in disguise, emotions are more than capable to turn the most rational individuals into morons. 

Mako and I will talk. We need to have a serious conversation, I own that much to my brother and perhaps, we can start a new path for both of us.

As much as we have been doing relatively well for ourselves; and in other circumstances, I would have been happy as we are. However, in the future; at an unknown date and event; shit will hit the fan and we will be implied in events that would put our life´s at risk.

With a lot of black humor painting my thoughts, I realize that it was as if I knew that I was going to be enlisted into the Second World War with years ahead of the shit as I was going to face and time to prepare for it.

We ended our dinner in peace and quiet. We didn't need words, nor that we could say anything that would not sound tremendously inadequate. It was a good thing that I am at the wheel of the car, the original Bolin was not this open, and instead, he has passed all his life trying to hide his real emotions under a layer of goofiness and smiles. 

Without a word, we moved to the couch of the apartment; I took a seat a bit after, bringing a couple of cold beers with me. A hair of the same dog that bite you and all that. Offering one to Mako, he took it in silence with a nod.

We are a couple of kids, not even teenagers; and we are already drinking like full-fledged adults. Well, I am sure that I am an adult, and that Mako has to mature fast after what happened to our parents, but if you paint us with twenty years more, I am sure that we will just look like a pair of tired adults, enjoying a drink in some peace and quiet after a very long and stressful day. 

Pabu climbed to my shoulders and rested there, the little ferret has a full stomach, and just curled and yawned, ready to sleep.

With a lazy gesture, I just clicked the radio on, and the soft tunes of a popular song filled the room. For a while, my brother and I just enjoyed the peace that our little lives have dished to us; it was a rare occurrence, but in all honesty, It was just perfect.

Welcome to Republic City and the world of the Avatar, Bolin, hope you survived the experience.


	2. Bending and puberty is Not a good mix

 

For an eighteen years old boy, I think I managed to do relatively well.

Mako was not all that happy of my new attitude, the poor chap was so accustomed to the old, childish Bolin that he has been taking care of for all his life that it came as a shock to him. However, Mako soon learned to accept how I was now, and if Mako was honest with his real thoughts for one time in his life, he will admit that he preferred as I was now then how I was before. 

Our old master Tozan saw my new self as an improvement, especially when my Earthbending skills made leaps and bounds.

On a secondary note, I can Metalbend now; that is a tremendously useful ability, especially in Republic City, were impure metals were all around us. It is amazing how bending can become something incredible, only with a bit of resourcefulness.

I personally blame my advance mental age to my more mature personality. I am an eighty years old war veteran at heart and trained to be a Percival. I am still trying to understand what that is. Most of the expectations that people had in me are because of my teenageteenage years when I have already a lifetime experiences to rely on. 

And a very varied life, if I am allowed to a bit of self-flattering.

Anyhow, I did not only pass all my time in the Gym of the Arena. Being the rookie, we were the bottom ladder of the teams, we were not even a team, just a couple of kids training to, perhaps, one day get to the Pro-bending Arena. In truth, I did a couple of things that almost severed my bond with my brother, but I will speak about that later. 

There is something that people forgets that exist and that they have been the repository of knowledge since the ancient times.

The freaking Library.

Mako found a work as a bender in the power station and I worked an illegal turn in the mines and the construction. For the rest of the time, I trained, study in the library and slowly saved money for a travel that I have planned for my conversation with Iroh. 

Among my original plans, was to pass four years; from my fourteens to the eighteens, traveling around the world. But lack of money, knowing that Republic city was capital in the future and the unwillingness to abandon my brother, prevented me from such pilgrimage.

Not to mention that at the time, I was sorely disappointed with my physical body. I have the foundations but lacked the development.

Using my own experience as Percival. A real combat machine, that was. The Library and the knowledge that Iroh left me, I carefully crafted myself into a solid fighter.

And that guided me into the things that put quite the strain on my brother. 

First, our less than legal extracurricular activities. 

Mako and I had to do odd jobs for the Triple Threat Triad. It was unavoidable, we own the wankers our lives. The jobs were low level, low muscle or running numbers at the most. But during that time, I discovered the illegal fighting ground that the Agni Kais gang run in the slums.

The perfect place to test my fighting; bending and not; skills. If I cracked some thugs skulls, well, is not as if they were the next Avatar or something, and it was one of the few places in town were a bender can make good money. 

Tonza lessons, the rent, the food, the Pro-bending gear, our own debt to the Triple Threat, bills piled up and we needed the money.

Second, Mako didn't really understood what it means to be Spirit Touch.

Now that I have experimented the Spirit World and have interacted with it; the Spirit World is no longer invisible for me. I can see and interact with Spirits, and that lead to some very odd and awkward moments on where I am trying to do all I could to keep my calm as I saw things that shouldn't be there.

Mako is a city boy, through and through, and trying to explain the Spirit world to him would be a waste of time; not to mention that he never the had the slightest inclination to learn about the matter.

On a side note, the freaking library of the city was not helpful either.

That lead to me traveling to the Air Temple Island. The only Airbenders left in the world, had taken residence there.

The youngest of the Avatar Aang´s children, Tenzin, and his family of Airbenders lived in the temple, trying to restore and preserve as much as they could from the Air Nomad culture that Avatar Aang tried to restore.

Avatar Aang was the Last Airbender alive, after the genocide of all his kin during the Hundred Year War. The Grandfather of Fire Lord Zuko, started the genocide of all the Air Nomad temples, killing all of them, trying to prevent the birth of the next Avatar. After Avatar Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai and put an end to the Hundred Year War, his wife; Lady Katara; and him, did all they could to restore the Air Nomads.

Of the three children of the pair, only Tenzin inherited Avatar Aang´s Airbending, and that put the heavy duty of restoring the Air Nomads upon him. On top of that, Lord Tenzin was Councilman of the Council that ruled over Republic City.

Yes, I know, a Council of Five ruled over a place called Republic City. I raised my eyebrow at that too, but I rolled with it. A lot of things that happens in Republic City had little to none sense, and you just have to deal with it or torch the entire place down in flames as it truly deserves.

Anyhow, I humbly asked for Lord Tenzin expertise in Spiritual matters and even if at the beginning he did not like me very much; soon become clear that I was not yanking his leg and I was totally serious.

Also, me being a cage fighter, a prospective criminal and a Pro-bender were not precisely green checks in Tenzin books.

I have to thank Lady Pema for softening the headbutting that Lord Tenzin and I had at the beginning.

Perhaps as a consequence that practically everybody else is a child from my perspective, and the fact that I am an Earthbender; stubborn as a mule by default; I have a lot of difficulties to make myself understood, without appearing as a freaking arrogant brat.

My meditation and training with Tenzin did wonders in that aspect and just in time.

I had to put an end to my illegal fighting career to train with Tenzin; it did not sit well among the Agni Kais, neither the Triple Threat Triads that saw me as their personal champion and muscle; not to mention how Chief Lin Beifong was on a hunt to put me behind bars permanently.

The latter, was mostly because I was a Metalbender and the majority; if not all; of the Metalbenders in the city were police officers.

Thanks to my training with Tenzin, I managed to quell the worst parts of my character; subduing the differences between the original Bolin and I, into a whole. Part physical, part spiritual training and a couple of Spiritual trances for some tea with an old friend and I was practically an urban guru.

By the way, that was how the criminal of the city called me, the City´s Guru; well, when I was out of ear range, my reputation as an underground fighter; preceded me. 

I was capable of great rage, of that, I was pretty sure, but also, I knew how to control, focus and channel my rage into what I need to overcome my enemies. In all, I seriously hope that I am ready for whatever comes next.

The worst part of all this was freaking puberty.

I was a growing boy and thanks to my training and discipline, I grew into a powerful frame. It was easier to jump me that surround me and none of mine body mass was fat. To be honest, I kind of fall into the cliche that the people of the Earth Kingdom are bulky and muscular. 

Point in case was that my physical power was very appealing to certain ladies; of the night and of the day. Those were a bit shallow relationships, always tainted by the ghost of the underground criminal activities. I knew zero women outside of the underground circles were I moved and, Spirits protects me; I would never drag any sane women into that madness.

When I left the underground to concentrate on Tenzin´s training and my job at the Pro-bending arena; I lost ninety percent of my female acquaintances. And the other ones that I know, were Pema, Ikki, Jinora, Asami and Shen Hua. The wife and daughters of Tenzin, the girlfriend of my brother, and the overseer of the underground arena.

Mako, on the other hand, managed to snatch a pretty lady called Asami Sato, yes, the only daughter of the owner of Sato Industries. It was a funny tale, Asami run over Mako with her Satobike, she invited her for dinner as an apology and they went on more romantic dates from there on. 

I tended to do not hang around Asami much; not that she is not a brilliant lass, but for the little problem that I have; or had, I burned those bridges with a passion later; contacts and acquaintances with the Agni Kai, coincidentally, the same bloody gang that killed her mother.

So, it would lead to a very awkward conversation. Not that I never was an active part of the Agni Kai, but still, I am pretty sure that neither Asami or her father would be precisely delighted to know that she was dating the brother of an individual that was part of the same bunch that assassinated her mother. 

Yes, awkward was awkward.

At some point in my training, I did something that made Mako sock my jaw with enough force to slam me into the wall; good thing he kept his flames under control. And truth to be told, I would have done the same If I was in his shoes. 

Once I arrogantly believed that I was ready, I left a letter for the few that I called friends and family and vanish for about six months. It was not one of my best moments, I confess, but puberty and hormones and arrogance and self-sufficiency and a long list of things that I stupidly believe I have mastered rammed the doors of my brain and gave me a crazy idea. 

It paid rotund benefits, but even today, I freaking wonder if it was worth it.

The genius plan was that I accidentally managed to discover the location of the library of Wan Shi Tong, the Spirit of knowledge. Once I get to the place, I could speak with the giant owl and with incredible luck, learn and be more prepared for whatever will come to bite my ass in the future.

Yes, totally genius, I know, I am the most brilliant mind ever.

Yes, I am still kicking myself for that ass pull of a plan, if the sarcasm was not that clear in the previous phrase.

So, I vanished and travel to the location of the library. Deep into the desert of the Earth Kingdom. Only reach the place was a complete nightmare, not to mention the raiders, the dangers of the desert and the Library, that was so deep within the sand that digging an entrance to it, took me weeks of backbreaking Earthbending. 

After a horrible week, I managed to dig out a tower from one of the outer wings of the Library and painfully squeeze myself into the building. As it could not be otherwise, Wan Shi Tong perceive me as soon as I managed to set a foot in his halls, but I was prepared for the meeting.

Or so I believed.

Wan Shi Tong was serious feed up with humans; each time he has allowed one to step into his halls, the humans have botched it up royally and cause more harm than good. 

Avatars included.

Only one sage was allowed to live and die in the halls of the Library; his love for knowledge was so great that even Wan Shi Tong was impressed and allowed the man to stay in the Library until he did of old age, doing what he loved more than anything else.

The correct protocol would have been to offer knowledge to the shelves of the Library. Knowledge for Knowledge, it was fair, after all. However, two of the last three humans that set foot in the library commit a series of crimes that turn any possible patience that owl may have with intruders, into a deep and volcanic distaste for anyone that dared to step in the Library halls.

General Zhao or admiral or whatever, discovered something and burned an entire hall of the Library; supposedly protecting the Fire Nation from something. Avatar Aang and his companions stole a scroll, fought Wan Shi Tong and destroyed part of the architecture. And now, I have entered without invitation inside the Library, ready to pick up any useful knowledge for a battle that I will face in the future. 

The Spirit of Knowledge was Not Amused.

As it cannot happen otherwise, I ended up fighting for my dear life and trying to reason with the freaking giant owl; that I did not want to cause any damage and that in fact, I was trying to minimize any damages to the world.

Then I botched it up again and made a deal with the bird, promising him a knowledge that no one in this world but me had. Guided by his own nature, the owl accepted and took from my mind, the knowledge of the World Wars.

From a couple of seconds, I believe that I have managed it, but before I could open my mouth, the freaking overgrown chicken went ballistic and tried to kill me with all he had. Desperate, I did all I can to keep myself alive. I will never say that I dish as much as I receive, far from it, the owl beat the shit out of me until I was little more than a walking bruise.

I had a scar on my chest from that day. No healing will never heal that wound, as it was made by the talons of Wan Shi Tong, totally determined to end my life. Is a memento of my own idiocy and the moment on where I discovered that I can Lavabend.

Both the owl and me were totally freaked out by the sudden lava, to be honest.

I was desperate, I was crying in pain, everything hurt and I was about to be butchered to pieces by an overgrown scared owl. My pain, rage, despair, I don't even know what the heck did I did, but I managed to summon a pillar of lava that protected me and fiercely burned the Spirit, crippling his wings and leaving him in a pitiful state.

Nor that I was much better, if it wasn't for that deus ex machina, I would be bird poo by now.

I just lay there, several meters far from the collapsed form of the giant owl, sobbing like a little child and with every cell in my body screaming in pain. I was battered, bloodied and burned. Lava was as harmful to me as is to anyone else. I don't even know how much time did I pass like that, I think that I fainted several times.

At some point, Wan was not there anymore and I dragged myself to my little camp inside the library, trying to mend as much as I could of my wounds. I was never much of a doctor, so I patched myself as much as I could and, well, fainted again over my sleeping bag. Even today, I am not even sure about how did I survive to my own idiocy. 

That was my personal Rubicon.

On that moment, I lost any arrogance and overconfidence in myself that I could have; and at the same time, I became incredibly conscious of how really fucking dangerous I really was. Like the Bloodbenders of old, as Lavabender I had all the advantages of fire, earth, and water at my beck and call, with one of the most destructive elements that humanity has ever seen. 

I was confused as hell. I have never listened to rumors to Lavabenders. As it happened with Metalbenders and Lightning benders, it must be something that I discovered in a state of desperation, when my Chi called upon the earth and the earth responded in such an explosive fashion. 

I have no idea of what the heck did, I just did, is like trying to explain Firebend to a Waterbender; its impossible to explain in a way that the Waterbend could understand. Sure, the Katas could be adapted; Lord Zuko demonstrated as such during his youth with Avatar Aang; but beyond that, I was pretty sure that I would never be able to explain this deus ex machina with words that had an iota of sense.

Months later, I climbed my way out the Library, wiser and with a nasty scar to remind me of getting my head out of my ass before doing anything.

A month later I was humbly apologizing to everyone for being a cretin and begging for forgiveness. It was one of my most painful memories.

In the time that I have passed with Tenzin and his family, they have grown on me, and I have to admit that my rushing to prepare for an unknown event in the future has pretty much screw any good will that I could have gained with the family of Airbenders. 

Not to mention how Mako; as I said before; punched me into a wall, as soon as he saw me again.

Physically speaking, Shen Hua was the worst, as she tried to fillet me alive with those swords of hers. Emotionally, however, I am still debating between the disappointment of Tenzin and his family or the hurtful expression of Mako. It is something that I do not want to experiment again, not now, not ever.

They did not forgive immediately, it took time, and honest remorse from my part; for them to begin to accept that I have colossally screwed up and I was trying to mend my failure as much as I can.

Nor that I blame then, broken trust is hard to mend.

I was the one that abandoned my brother; one that has took care of me since what happened to our parents, I was the one that; after Tenzin opened his home to me; run in the middle of the night, abandoning my training; training that I ask in the first place; in order to chase behind something that only I knew about.

Shen Hua was the one that gave me the less flak for what I did, she just tried to murder me. That sound incredible wrong, yes I know, but Shen Hua was the overseer of an illegal arena where people die daily. When one of the few individuals that she could begin to call a friend, suddenly vanish without even a goodbye and appear half a year later, you tend to get a bit pissed off without a good explanation. 

Curiously, what was a good explanation for ones, was the worst for others.

The kids of the temple were delighted to have me back; as I have experience raising my own children and grandchildren in the past, I knew how to deal with them; sure I still have to endure some cold shoulders from them, but after a bit, they just wanted to have their friend back.

Pema was understanding. And terrific as a freaking demon at the same time I would say, but she understood that sometimes teenagers do stupid things; which was ironic to a level that I can not even begin to imagine considering my supposedly real age; and I had one of those rebel phases, where only the harsh lessons of life could enter in a teenager thick skull.

I laughed without any humor at that phrase and later, in front of Tenzin, I revealed her why that phrase was so true.

My scar is not a nice sight, it covers a third of my chest, right in the middle of it. The talons of Wan Shi Tong has forever marked me and I will forever bear that mark as a memento, to always remind me of where arrogance could lead.

It did not hide anything from Pema or Tenzin; I spoke about all that happened in the Library, my battle, and my new bending; there is little need to say that both were astonished. I beg them to keep it until I decided to reveal it myself. 

They tried to convince me to, at last, reveal myself as Lavabender, however, I knew that the only other Lavabender know was in an Earth Kingdom cell, rooting for being part of something called the Red Lotus, whatever that organization was.

The least I am related to that individual, the best, last thing I need is attention on myself for being a Lavabender and a possible member of the Red Lotus. Not to mention what I discovered in the Library. Let me say something, Ignorance is a fucking blessing.

That was one reunion; Mako´s punch to the face was the other one. I did not sleep in our apartment on the Pro-bending arena that day; in fact, I hide in the underground arena, after Shen Hua trying to kill me.

Shen Hua was more than accommodating, and she had a soft spot for me. After all, I have done, when a woman like Shen Hua, the hell with high heels, chains you to the bed and ride you for hours, you tend to shut up and pray to survive the ride. 

I bunked with Shen Hua for a week before Mako did not look like he was going to murder me as soon as I entered in his visual range. I could have faced him when he was with Asami, as the presence of the lass will force him to be civil, but that would be wrong. I want to talk and apologize to my brother without such underhanded tactics. It was my fault after all. 

I still appeared on the Pro-bending arena and with I have learned and the teachings of Tenzin; pretty sure that he severely disprove of what I was doing; it was clear that I was top league material. Of course, I reject any teams; even if I never made to the Pro-bending arena, unless I enter with my brother, I will not participate.

After a heated exchange of words; and fireballs from his part; Mako and I, kind of mend some bridges, and I solemnly promised that I was not going to pull another asshole move like I have done unless I bring him with me. Which is probably bullshit, because Mako did not deserve being dragged by my next “genius” idea.

We formed the team we always wanted; along with a talentless Waterbender slob called Hasook; unfortunately, it was the only Waterbender available, who was not already on a team. I blame myself for this, if I didn't run into a crazy adventure, we could have formed the team way sooner and pick up a decent Waterbender for the Fire Ferrets.

Ah, yes, I almost forgot; Pabu still did not get close to me and we named the team in honor of the little critter.

I suspect that Pabu is uncomfortable with me, due to the Spirit scar I had on my chest, the poor animal must sense it and feel scared of it. The presence of Wan Shi Tong was still on my blood and flesh, and any sensitive animal will pick it up.

That was one of the reasons why Jinora forgave me faster than the rest. Jinora is capable of sense Spirits far better than I will ever be, and she immediately picked up the faint residue that the Spirit of Knowledge carved on my chest with its talons. She did not know of the scar, but she is a clever child and deducted that I have fought or had a dangerous meeting with a Spirit. 

Back to our Pro-bending Team, it was easy to me to convince Mako to step up our training to compensate for that slob of Hasook. Why someone like him was on the Pro-bending was something that I would never understand. And thanks to Iroh, I show Mako a scroll that detailed some Katas from the Sun Warriors, aka, the badasses that learn Firebending from the freaking dragons themselves. 

Now, Mako was a city boy, and cared three fucks about legends and mysticism; his martial arts and bending lacked any spirituality, it was just physical and mental will. Telling anything about the Sun warriors would be useless, but seeing the Katas and actually trying them physically, convinced Mako that they were awesome.

Fire Lord Zuko himself used them, along with Avatar Aang, so I am pretty sure that, yes, they are indeed awesome.

Despite Haasook, we breeze through the Pre-championship matches, between Mako and I, we were freaking unstoppable, and I loved every freaking second of it. It was good to be in the good graces of my brother again, I missed him a lot. 

I am Bolin, I am Percival; changes, merging, souls, whatever the universe did to us, I am who I am, and Mako is my brother; older brother to be precise; and I will have his back, come hell or high water.

In resume, it was good to be back to relatively normal.

That remind me of a couple of conversations that I had during this time that pretty much cemented the idea that I was a complete idiot, I have a lot of headaches coming my way and that I was more broken than what I initially believed. 

And all of those, when I finally managed to be back on the good graces of those that I cared about.

The first one was with Pema.

The pregnant Pema. It was her´s and Tozin fourth kid; I knew that Tenzin was trying to repopulate the Air Nomads, but the poor Pema was the mother of four; give her a bloody break. 

Mind you, that more than once debated with myself about the idea of explaining Pema and Tenzin the idea of harems, concubines or artificial insemination; but then I accidentally annoyed Pema and once you are on the other side of one of her legendary verbal lashings, you need professional help.

So, I wisely shut the hell up.

“I so missed this", I took a sip of my tea as Pema and I sat on one of the rooms of the temple. 

It was a comfortable summer afternoon; I found myself without nothing really to do, and I found myself traveling to the Air temple. For a year before I left, this place was almost akin to a home; and I missed it dearly, now that I can, relatively, be back on it, I usually moved back and forth the city.

With Pema in such an advanced pregnancy, I offered myself to help her around the house, and the help was appreciated, someday I will be back on Tenzin good graces, but that was in the far future. The far, far, future considering our tempers.

We were sat around a circular wooden table, a replica of one that could be found in the past, in the Air temples, Pema was serving the tea; Jasmine Tea, the favorite of Iroh and I; in one delicate tea port with clouds and skies painted on it. I had my fedora hat, resting on the table at the side of the tray where the tea set was.

Oh, shit, I forgot about that; Spirits I am a horrible narrator.

I started to wear a fedora as soon as I got back in Republic City. Well, not only a fedora but the suits that were the trend in the city right now. As Percival, I felt good in a suit, and I was a sharp dresser if I can say myself.

Also, It was not only a method of clicking with the rest of the trends of the city but a hidden in plain sight weapons that I can carry anywhere. My hat and suit had metal under the cloth, perfectly bendable steel.

“You could only blame yourself, Bolin”, Pema chided to me.

She lacked any malice, but she was a bit motherly and Mako and I were the poster child of bad boys that needed some positive maternal attention.

“Please, don't rub it on Lady Pema”, I groaned under my tea, since I got back, I have never called anyone of the Tenzin family with nothing with absolute respect.

Or anybody else, now that I thought about it, manners and politeness is something that I use always. Another gimmick of the Percival that I was. Except when some wanker annoys or piss me off, then kiddy gloves are off and I called them things that would make sailors blush in embarrassment. 

On a side note, the children of Tenzin love it, they found it silly, and that made them laugh. A small price to make them happy and content. 

“Bolin, I thought that I have already tell you that honorifics are unnecessary", she said before serving herself a cup of tea. 

“Pain taught me manners, and manners maketh man". I shrugged. 

Since my little excursion to the Library of Wan Shi Tong, I tend to behave like even more like an English Gentleman. It was a remnant of Percival, but it has worked so far. Don't repair whats not broken.

Pema sighed audibly and I just hide my eyes behind my tea. Even if I was; relatively; twice the mental age of Pema, my body was still the body of a young adult who still has difficulties to find his own ass with a map and a compass.

“This tip-toeing around us, is starting to become tiresome, you know?”, Pema stared at me and I lowered my cup. I respect her too much to do otherwise.

"At the beginning, Tenzin approved of it and the children found it funny", she explained to me. "But now, Tenzin fears that we may have lost a friend and the children think that the joke is no longer funny. They like when you are around, they love you, but there is a wall between you and them that is starting to scare them".

I sighed, took a deep sip of my tea and prepared to confess something that scares the shit out of me.

“Pema, I am the one that is scared shitless", I am blunt, ready to nail the point home. She was a bit taken back for the confession, but I stop her before she could argue back. "No, please, let me explain". 

Taking a deep breath, I start my rant, a rant that has been dancing on my head ever since returned and saw, first hand, the deep impression that I have made on those that I care about.

“When I left, I had a plan, a stupid, arrogant and crazy plan; but alas, I was so arrogant to believe that it will work and after all, even if the improbable case that I perished on the little quest, who am I?. A nobody, another street rat of Republic City, people like me are dime a dozen in the Pro-bending Arena, the underground fight clubs and the gangs of the city". 

“No, Pema, no, wait, let me finish, please”.

“Point is, that Mako and I were a two urchins that only survived by freaking luck; Tozen, the arena manager, saw potential in us; but you know that to survive until that point, Mako and I; mostly Mako, Spirits bless his soul; had to swamp our sorry asses to the Triple Threat Triad”.

“I know, that Tenzin and you were informed about my starring career in the underground cage matches; as soon as I came to learn about Spirits and what was wrong with me. Chief Beifong showed Tenzin my file; she cannot prove anything, but that never stopped her to be convinced that I am the next scion of the devil". 

“I never lied to any of you, I am guilty of a lot of those charges; mostly the one of being a runner, low-level muscle and fighter in the cage matches; relatively harmless crimes, made in order to survive". 

“After what I did and realize what it almost cost me; I am pretty sure that I am half retarded; but the thing is, that the only redeeming qualities I have, are my sturdy body and my bending, so I used them to made mine and Mako´s life better. How? by using them in professions that bring real money to us". 

“Don't believe any of the bullshit that the people spits in the streets, Republic City is not oppressed by benders, bloody hell, is the other way around, actually, but I digress”.

“I took pride; to the point of arrogance, in the fact that I am a very good fighter and a good bender; the Spirits are only an added bonus. People call me the City´s Guru, even if I hate that arrogant title". 

"I thought, that with that under my belt, I could find the legendary Library of Wan Shi Tong, to become a master bender of an unrivaled match, like the Blind bandit or Fire Lord Zuko, you know, perhaps found something that could make Mako and I unbeatable in the Pro-bending league".

And here I almost inserted a lie. It was among my plans, but the truth is that I needed to know the ins and out of this universe, and the mysteries and secrets of bending, the Spirits, the whole package. I repeat, Ignorance is bliss.

“I never thought of what I was losing in my arrogance, and whats worst is that I get my wish; I am a freaking Lavabender, one of the most dangerous individuals that exist. At the beginning it was euphoric, I discovered a new bending technique, then discovered that I was not the only one. I was exultant, I was the king of the castle, baby". 

“When I left, I never thought that anyone except perhaps Mako would miss me much. I am another meat bag from the streets, oh sure, a very dangerous Earth and Metal bending meat bag, but meat bag nonetheless". 

“Mako and Asami, Spirit bless that fine lass; had a stable thing together, Tenzin and the children were happy and good, and if my calculations are correct, you were on the first month of pregnancy. You know, that´s all the people I have in my life; I have been dragging Mako down all my freaking life and I thought, what do I have to lose?”.

“Then I get back; wiser and sober, and by the Spirits, I was slapped with what I had to lose”.

“I am already in thin ice with all of you; the mere idea of hurting any of you, intentionally of or not, terrifies me to the bone. But I am what I am; trying to run from it, hide and cover under a goofy, idiotic smile and positive attitude was poisoning my brother”.

“I am a Lavabender, meaning I can turn anything that contains a smudge of earth, into lava. Please, Pema, think, point me, right now, in this room; something that I can not turn into a weapon with a simple Kata. And Pema, do please remember, that I am the undisputed champion of Republic City underground cage matches for an entire year, I am very fast and my bending is more than Martial Arts for me, they are art and I am a bloody artist". 

Pema observed me during all the tirade. Okay, I think that I may have rant a little too much; her glare is starting to get uncomfortable. I drank the rest of my cold tea and serve myself another cup, after my speech, I have my throat dry.

I can not even begin to fathom what the heck is Pema thinking; if our roles were reversed, I would have punched my idiotic surrogate child through the walls and then hugged it to death and make him promise to never do such a stupidity again or sell itself so low. 

I had the uncomfortable sensation that Pema was wishing for a way to punch me through the walls with her glare.

“You are an idiot". She stated and sighed, there was sadness in her tone. I have never heard that tone in her voice. "A big, gigantic idiot". 

“The jury is still deliberating on the half retard part of the previous rant”, I shrugged, trying; judging by Pema´s very not amused stare; with little success to insert some humor on the conversation.

“Bolin, you must never think like that; none of us thinks of you like you are a dead weight; argh, teenagers, really", Pema grunted and rambled a little on her own. 

Well, I somehow managed to derail her train of thought a little, with luck, the conversation will be moved back to more mundane topics, I really don't want to deal in the mud that was my late puberty. Enough women problems I have already to... 

“Broken, sweet, with all kind of juicy muscles, handsome and a sharp dresser", she commented, looking at me with an appreciative glare; being a married woman and mother of four children, it was slightly disturbing. "Girls must be throwing yourself at you". 

Spirits will be dammed.

I almost choked on my tea because of the laughter that erupted from my throat. Of all the topics she could have pulled out of his sleeves, it has to be my horrible love life. It was something out of a Greek comedy. 

“Pema, please, just, No”. I begged almost to the point of tears.

“I...Bolin, this is weird even by your standards, whats going on?". She blinked and asked directly to me. Spirits will be damned, I knew that I can mentally be his blood grandfather and sometimes I almost call her mom. 

“Pema, let me resume you, the names of all the women that I know beyond the name”, I stared at the bottom of my cup of tea, trying to find the answer to the multiverse on it.

“Pema, Ikki, Jinora, Asami and Shen Hua”.

That´s it.

That´s all the women that I know, that are not directly ladies of the night or I have been paid to accompany them. Money is money and we needed it at that point. Never again, that's for sure.

Pema blinked, I assume that she must be surprised, again, old songs like me are dime a dozen on the streets, so I fail to see why is that surprising.

“You, Ikki and Jinora are family", said refilling my cup again. Spirits, I need the tea and soon a very spiritual drink of high graduation. "Asami is the girlfriend of Mako and Shen Hua...I don't even know where to start". 

Thanks to that conversation; I realized that I had a new family now, one that went beyond Mako and me, and that I almost lost it because of my own arrogance. I was rushing things, running head along into a situation that I barely understood, trying to chew and chug all the knowledge of the world in a second, and act like I was ready for everything.

I really should have know better.

The second conversation was with my own brother and boy it was an awkward and alcohol inducing conversation.

It happened when we were celebrating our overwhelming victory in the playoffs of the championship. With the money of the prize, we could buy a real house and move on with our lives, finally freeing themselves of the shadow of the Triple Threat Triad. 

“We are close, Bo, I can feel it, we are finally moving”.

The real kicker is that he was finally calling me Bo again; Mako was still a bit peeved with me about all the vanishing act. We have already mended bridges, but from time to time, it was difficult not to remember that fast one that I have to pull on him. 

“Yes, yes we are”, I laughed, enjoying my noodles.

I have grown an attachment to Southern Water tribe cuisine these days, do not ask me why. I have practically dinned in all the low-cost restaurants of the city.

The sudden doubt and diminishing smile of Mako told me that he was going to ask me something that I am not going to like. I was pretty sure what was the question and why. I was not eager to have that conversation, Spirits, it was one of those things that came to bite you in the ass when you needed them the last.

“No”, I answered faster.

“What?”, Mako blinked.

“You are going to tell me that Asami wants to know me”, I resume his question and proceed to said why. Not that I have telepathy, it simply was that I was running from such encounter.

“Arguing, that you have been dating each other for almost three months by now, and she only knows my name. Not really a surprise, I run as if the devil is hot on my heels as soon as she entered the room”.

“Yes, that would be it”, sighed Mako eating his noodles.

“Mako, brother, I am really happy for you". His raised eyebrow is way better communicator than any of his words, really Mako, you really need to put thoughts into words. "No, really, Asami is good for you, she is an intelligent and beautiful girl; but Mako, please, you know that I can not meet her; the less she relates me to you, the bloody better". 

“Asami knew that we worked for the Triple Threat Triad”, Mako pointed out with his chopsticks in my direction. “We talked about how we lost our parents, I never talked with any of my girlfriends about that”.

“And that is a good thing, now, refresh my memory, what happened to Asami´s mother?”. I am not being a jerk, I am trying to nail a point.

“She was assassinated on a break-in”, Mako said with sadness.

I understood, Spirits, Asami and we are of similar cloth; both lost our parents to Firebender muggers. Asami still has his father, but the tragedy was still there.

“Aha, now, who did break-into the mansion of the Sato´s?”. And there lied the minefield and the core of the problem I had with Asami.

Mako observed me, without really answering, it was surprising how much expressive was his wordless expressions.

“Mako, the Agni Kai killed Asami´s mom”, I dropped the bomb on his lap.

Maki widened his eyes; there were rumors, but no one has ever confirmed nothing. Sure, the Agni Kai and Future Industries were on a not so subtle war, but none of the usual suspects has ever boasted about gutting the wife of Hiroshi Sato, the CEO of Future Industries.

“Now, I want you to think, about what could happen, if Asami finds out that her boyfriend is the brother of the undisputed champion of the Agni Kai´s underground cage matches”. And cue the chopsticks of Mako dropping on the table.

“But you are not Agni Kai”, protested Mako.

Mako is right, however, that was not an excuse; I was part of the same gang that offed Asami´s mother. That is not something that could be tossed aside like yesterday garbage, much less by her father; philanthropist facade aside, in the streets, people know that daddy Sato was a rabid Equalist, one of those wankers that have been on the rise this last year.

Equalist, that was a mess like I have not seen in years. Bunch of wankers to the last of them, only spouting useless propaganda. As bender, I have not seen any of the things that they are constantly whining about. Benders oppressing non-benders?, in what alternate universe?, in this one, Benders are always getting the freaking shaft.

I think that I have spoken about this already, but for a bender in Republic city, your professionals' options are not that bright. 

Crime, Pro-bending, Power Station or Police officer.

Those are pretty much the only professions were benders tend to stand up from the rest, but with the appearance of all kind of technology from Future Industries, the gap between benders and non-benders has reduced a lot. Where previously a bender was necessary, the technology made it useless, so yeah, a non-bender can do a bender job.

And benders are the one oppressing the non-benders, yeah, sure.

Back to Mako and I; the thing is, that I have no real beef with Asami, in fact, I think she is one of the best things that has ever happened to my brother, and now, because I made a living out of my training, I am risking their relationship and their future. 

“I am not Agni Kai”, I nodded, “but I fought in the Agni Kai cages, I fought with the Agni Kai, Spirits, Shen Hua considers me his personal boy toy”.

Gross...Mako has spat his noddles in my face at the last phrase. I deadpan like the best, but with a splash of noodles in my face, rest a lot of effect on my expression. 

After a minute on where I clean my face and Mako recovers from his almost choking with his noodles, we are back on the conversation. Maybe, I should have shut up about the disaster that is my love life.

The only woman that I could see as something more than family, is a crazy assassin Firebender that rules an underground fighting arena, and she sees me as little more than the life support of the piece of male anatomy that she uses when she had an itch.

I really should start thinking about my life decisions, if this sounds as worse as it does in my head.

Now, this is pretty much the resume of what consist my actual life.

I did a lot of wrong shit, but somehow, I have a family; I am a dangerous bastard, but I am doing all I could to be a good man to my family and get myself out of the street and mud that my brother and I have been dragged on all our childhood.

Sure, I may appear as your everyday stupid teenager; and in a sense, that is what I am.

I may have the experience of a lifetime, but at the same time, I am a street rat, who witnesses his parents offed by a Firebender mugger and is doing all he could along with his brother to become someone in this Republic City.

That kind of baggage; and again, puberty is a bloody mess; is hard to ignore.

Wait a bloody second, where did I hear something similar?, I am pretty sure that I listened to the story of my life on one of the comics of my children and grandchildren.

Ah, now I remember; something about a young man seeing his parents assassinated by a mugger and turning into a crime fighter of some sort.

I am Batman?.

Anyhow, I continued traveling to Air Temple Island; the conversation that I had with Pema cleaned the air between Tenzin and me, and now, I am welcome on the island. I was practically part of the family by now. And by my everything that is sacred, I pretend to honor that trust. 

I continue training with Mako for the Pro-bended championship; despite Hasook dead weight, and at the same time, I run from Asami like she is the plague.

I can not even think what the poor girl must be thinking about my excuses. At this point, I may appear as if I am either with a big case of Gynophobia or a total asshole. I am not the latter, honestly, I just scared that I could screw up her relationship with my brother.

I cut all ties with the criminal element of the city; sometimes by very, very violent methods.

See the previous line about Batman?; I took a page of the man and when any of my former criminal contacts, even suggest the idea of even looking funny in the direction of anyone that I consider close, I broke the wankers. Violently, savagely, head to toe, torn to pieces and torch the remains.

Last rumors I heard, Chief Beifong was doubting between unofficially giving me a medal or Metalbend me into a dark box and toss me into the ocean, where no one would ever find me. 

Everything started to go our ways, and I was happy. Then shit hit the fan and as Iroh foresee; I was in the middle of all of it.

Ah, and I meet the Avatar.


	3. The Avatar and The City

I couldn't stop it.

After Amon, the terrorist that has been scaring shitless Republic City for some years, gave his speech and by some magician trick, screw up forever the bending skills of the head of the Triple Threat Triad; I laughed my ass off.

Very loudly.

That, cut any solemnity of the event, I got to admit that I was rude, but it was so freaking funny!.

All of the things that Mako and I did, all the shit that we had to paddle through to reach week´s end, all the mud that we had to endure to become free of the Triads, to create a life of our own, etc; remember all of that?.

Totally useless.

Suddenly, when we finally get free of the wanker, another bigger wanker comes out of nowhere, kidnapped him; and this humble person now that they were at it; and in front of a big audience; seriously I never expected the Equalist to be so numerous; Amon removed the bending of Lightning Bolt Zolt. 

Just like that; some quick fight, as were Amon demonstrated that he is an exceptional fighter; and Amon put Zolt on his knees and by some magic bullshit, cut his bending.

I have front row for the spectacle, and I still can not believe it.

Considering the motions and the gestures, I would say that he was an Energybender; but it was so mundane, that it could not be. Not to mention that after all his speech of how the Spirits has spoken to him and how they have shown the truth and all that jazz; I was sure that he was as Spirit Touched as a brick.

Amon was acting like a magician, distract the audience one hand and hide the tiger with the other. The trick was to see beyond the distraction for what the trick really was. At first sight, I would say Energy bending, however, he was perfectly still, no glowing eyes, no energy between them.

This was a physical block of the bending skill.

Back to the basics then, how does one block the bending of anyone?.

Temporary blocking was easy if you are a Chi-blocker. Those martial artists can easily cut bending for a while. Then, Amon must be using some more powerful version of that, a way to block entire chakras, instead of chi points; I don't know if this is permanent or not or just a turn to the eleven Chi-block technique. 

According to what I read about chakras, the point that among touches, is the Light Chakra. It deals with insight and is blocked by Illusion. What a bloody second, are you telling me, that what Amon does is delude the body into believing that it cannot bend anymore?.

How, in sanity´s name, does that even work? that goes against everything about how bending and chi works!.

You can not control another person´s body like freaking that, you must be a….oh, Spirits be damned, that is bloody impossible; today is not the full moon and all that posturing would totally unnecessary.

Although, at this point, I am convinced that someone has rewritten all rules when I was not looking and I am just looking at something that has the same instructions manual that of a toaster written In Mandarin.

But I am building the house, roof first. I have already said that I am an unreliable narrator, sorry about that.

After my return from my little adventure with Wan Shi Tong Library, I passed most of my time making amends with those that I care about and pretty much cleaning my file with the shady elements of Republic City.

That´s a full-time job. Months later, I was somehow; lucky, I suppose; back in the good graces of those that I care about, and the rest can go to hell for what I care.

Chief Beifong was off my back too, now that I pretty much gave the middle finger to the crime world; they were just a means to an end, I never had the intention of becoming a freaking crime lord.

Mako and I were on the speed road to the Championship. Mako even was going steady with Asamai, it was cute to see their romance, actually. We still had our bumps down the road, especially about with my little fling with Shen Hua. 

However, when I started to burn bridges with the gangs and the mobs; in some cases literally; Mako changed the tune. Mako saw that I was not trying to make a living out of crime and that I was giving my all on the Pro-bending Championship. We had our brothers relationship back to when we were youngster trying to make a living in Republic City with nothing more than our bending skill and our wits.

I needed a bit more time with Tenzin and his family. I did lessen up with my previous "treat them with the utmost respect and neutral stance”; seeing that it was not that of a positive approach, well, it was at the beginning, but later, they fell as uncomfortable as I was with it. Fortunately, we finally stop tip toeing and get back to the old good times.

Meaning, the kids use me as their personal toy; dragging me in all kind of shenanigans all over the Air Temple Island; Pema was happy to have her personal work mule around; she was already on her eight to nine month of pregnancy and that´s taking a toll on her; and Tenzin was happy to have someone that was as Spiritual as he was and another powerful bender, just in case someone has the brightest idea of attacking the four last Airbenders of the world.

I think I am starting to become something akin to a discrete and unofficial adviser to a Councilman. More than once, Tenzin has commented the last meeting of the Council and as I can not keep my bloody mouth shut, I listened and gave an opinion or an advice. Tenzin seems to appreciate it and does not slap my head for being a loudmouth, so I will assume that I am giving good advice. 

The rest of the time I was training; be it on the gym of the Arena or the Air Temple Island; or studying the scrolls and books that I picked up from the Library.

Speaking of which, next time Tenzin will make an inventory of the Temple´s library, he will found that he had several more.

A diary of a monk that lived with Avatar Yangchen, several advanced Airbending Katas; things like that. I found them in the Library and they are of little use for me but of incredible value for Tenzin and his personal mission to recover as much of the Airbending culture as he could.

Could I have used them as bribes to gain their trust back?; that would be the wrong route and will only show me as an opportunistic asshole. Such action will paint any of my next actions in a permanent shade as if I was an opportunist and manipulative individual. And they were gifts in the first place, gifts came without attachments. 

Sadly, it was not all that far from the truth. I knew that something was coming, and so far, all my actions have been nothing but a weapons race, trying to be prepared for that unknown event or events.

I will admit that I hit the gold with the Library; I paid a high price for it, but the knowledge was priceless. Once I finish with it, I will left most of it with Tenzin or with the White Lotus. I had my doubts with the Lotus, I was a bit on at odds with them.

You see, I respected the White Lotus; Iroh talked to me about how the White Lotus was in the past and I had to admit that Avatar Aang only made this far thanks to them. But the White Lotus today was different. They lost their hidden status; heck, I knew of them on the streets, although, they are mostly on the Four Nations, Republic City did not have much of them around.

In fact, the whispers on the streets was the White Lotus was on a not so subtle war with a bunch of radicals called the Red Lotus.

Never heard of them much, supposedly, a splinter, radical group of powerful benders that gave the middle finger to the White Lotus and hunted the Avatar on their own, to put an end to the Avatar before it completed his pilgrimage and training. It was one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard but never attribute to malice, what could be explained by stupidity. 

So, in one of those tranquil days, Mako and I learned to the arrival of the Avatar to Republic City, via radio.

Mako and I were relaxing in our apartment after a good session of training and he was preparing to go out on another date with Asami; and yes, I run from that one too. I am still freaking unsure about meeting the girl. I had nothing against the young lady, for what Mako says; after peeling the young love layers; she is quite the exceptional and brilliant lady.

In my old life, I kind of learned that a good man would look out for a better woman. Asami completed Mako, and such a clicking was hard to find.

Oh, sure, they are teenagers and it was possible that this was just a fling. People had several romantic partners before they found their loved ones, so it was still on the cards that Mako and Asami will break up in the future. It will be a freaking pity, but that´s life works sometimes.

Anyhow, we were sitting on the couch with a cold beer in the hands and enjoying some afternoon news; side note, Pabu still can't get close to me, the scar that the giant owl left me, scares the little thing; when the radio started to give a newsflash about the apparition of the Avatar in the City. 

Now, that perked my interest; the Avatar in Republic City? that spells problem in all the languages. 

Thing is, that the Equalist cretins had been gaining momentum in this past years.

I still consider them nothing more than hypocrites and whiny children, but even in the underground circles, people are baffled about the kind of dough that a supposed oppressed minority tossed around like it was nothing.

I saw some of their members in action when they busted some illegal cage matches and factories that contract benders. A dozen of chi-blockers; as if that fighters could be found looking under a rock; trained fighters armed with combat suits, military gear; masks, goggles, vehicles, weapons; that kind of things are not freaking cheap. They even had PR running the streets, voicing their bullshit to anyone that wanted to hear; that, unfortunately, was not a little crowd. 

Their leader, the masked Amon, was a popular figure on the streets, people said that the man had charisma, that he was passionate about his rhetoric and that he had a point.

Equality for all.

It was a nice idea, really, but it is clear that they do not live in the same City as I do.

I have only seen Non-benders lashing violently against benders; and no, bloody crime did not equal that the government is oppressing the non-benders. Actually, I am pretty much convinced that it is the other way around. I am a bloody bender, and I am the one that is giving the shaft, each bloody turn.

Now, the most powerful bender of all is coming to a city, where a bunch of wankers is constantly spewing how the benders are oppressing them.

Yeah, this can only end well.

Mako and I listened to the speech and the greeting of the Avatar to the city and I raised an eyebrow.

“Something on your mind, Bo?”, fuck, Mako has started to learn to read me.

I don't know how, but Mako was more and more capable to read my expressions and intentions. I suspect is a sibling thing, but Mako always was more perceptive and clever than people thinks he is.

“I like the Avatar´s voice”, I said, and It was true.

The Avatar was a young girl, thanks to her voice it was easy to deduce that she is a teenager, possibly of Mako and I age, I would bet; quite young age for a full grown Avatar.

For what I recalled of the knowledge of the Library, the Avatar must train in all four elements and master them completely before even begun to consider itself a full Avatar. This girl must be quite precocious if in her teenage years has already mastered the elements.

There is a precedent, although; it is written in the history books that Avatar Aang managed to master the elements in six months at the age of twelve, so it was not something that preposterous. 

“She sounds young”, nodded Mako. “I bet is our age, more or less”. It was a suckers bet, so I did not bait. “What was the last female Avatar?”, she mussed out loud.

Mako and I are from multicultural families; something common in the seventy years after the Hundred years wars, so our heritage was a bit of a mix-up. Tales from the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation mixed together in a nice and confusing package.

From the Fire Nation, Avatar Roku, the previous Avatar to Aang, and before Roku, Lady Kyoshi, the founder of the Kyoshi warriors. And the last female Avatar before this Korra lass.

The name sounded Water Tribe; if I had to make a guess, Northern Tribe?.

Doesn't matter, she was in Republic City and to be honest, I tend to suspect why and where she living here in the “City of Dreams”.

“Kyoshi, I think”, I answered.“Speaking of females, I do hope that you are not going to present to your date dressed like that”, I totally changed the topic.

Since I returned, I have become a sharp dresser, sue me.

I never forget my roots, and thanks to Percival training I was familiar with suits, fedora hats, and ties. It was all the trends during the majority of the childhood and adult life. I like a good suit and my fedora hat is a very useful and stylish accessory. 

Mako tosses me a poisonous glare, but I knew that he loved me. Mako hates to dress prim and proper. Mako was a street boy like me; fancy clothes were out of our league for most of our lives. They are still out of our budget, but I knew how to buy very good suits for amazingly cheap prices.

I am trying to convince him to start to dress more properly, he is the sweetheart of Asami Sato, freaking heiress of Future Industries.

Now, I am not trying to turn him into a peacock or a socialite; I knew that Asami is a very down to earth girl; but appearances were important in business and I wanted him to look down to earth and stylish enough to demonstrate any possible business asshole in their way that he was not a pushover.

What I would never say a word about, was the red scarf of our parents; its the only had he has left from them and I agree that it will never leave him.

Back to the topic of the Avatar.

As soon as I listened to her energetic voice on the radio, I knew that she was inexperienced. She was speaking like a celebrity, like a rock star that has been warmly received in the City. Those bastards of the Council; Tenzin not included; are going to eat her alive if she does not get some real life wits soon. 

Speaking of wits, I was working on the supposition that she was on Republic City, for one single reason.

Tenzin.

I think I have known Tenzin for about four to five years. I don't even remember my birthday, so I do not pay much attention to dates. In all that years; I have never seen him absent from Republic City more than a month, and never without a good reason of state to leave the place. 

Let´s do some quick math here. Tenzin and his children are the last Airbenders of the world, the Avatar Korra, needs to learn Airbending, Tenzin has never abandoned the city for more than a month. 

Avatar Aang needed more than one month to achieve a decent comprehension of the elements, so unless Korra as a prodigy beyond prodigies, I suspect that she has come to Republic City to learn from Tenzin.

I am making a lot of assumption of a late, but somehow, they always had a sliver of truth on them. I do not consider myself uber intelligent; in fact, I am convinced that I am half retarded, but my impressions and deductions tend to hit the nail. 

So, I am assuming that Avatar Korra is in Republic City; the less Spiritual and bender friendly city in the world; to learn Airbending from one of the most spiritual men in the world. That means that she would be residing on Air Temple Island. 

Yes, all this mess is going to end so well…

I did not want to interrupt the Avatar on her training, so I did not stop as much as I did on the Air Temple Island; if she was as inexperienced as I suspected, she was going to need all the time she had to learn Air bending, and if she is clever enough; real-life politics from Tenzin. He is a councilman of Republic City, after all, some political savvy was necessary for the job.

Not to mention that the Pro-bending Championship was around the corner and with a buffoon like Hasook in the team, Mako and I need to be on top of our top game if we want a shot at that sweet, sweet price. Our ticket to get out of the streets brought us a new life and tell our past as street rats, to sod off.

That being said, I will mark one of my life´s most peculiar moments, when I discovered that the Avatar is a great fan of Pro-bending and ended up being my teammate in the Fire Ferrets.

It all began when I was walking down the hallway of the Pro-bending Arena, moving to the team ´s balcony, where I could saw Mako mop the floor with our rivals in the one versus one pre-match. 

I have all the confidence in the world about Mako skills. I have trained with him, I gave him the Dragon Dance and I knew that Mako was talented even before of all that. His capability of Lightningbend was a proof of his talent.

As I walked, I saw Butaka, our team manager, discussing with a very lost dark-skinned girl, dressed in Water tribe clothes. She was trying to convince Butaka; good luck with that, he is a total bastard in the best of the days; that she has lost on her way to the bathroom. 

I blinked and stopped because I recognized the freaking voice of the girl. Spirits, she was the blood Avatar!. Sighing, I move to the conversation and interrupted it, telling Butaka to fuck off, that the lass was with me.

Once Butaka relented; as much as he had me by the balls, by being the owner of the apartment where I lived, Butaka feared me for the infamy I had on the streets; I take the Avatar to the private balcony.

“Lady Korra”, I called to her in my best, respect and neuter tone voice. “Will you explain to me, why the Avatar is trying to sneak inside of the Pro-bending arena?”.

As soon as she ended her explanation; I was screaming bloody murder inside my head, bashing my head against a mental wall. Okay, calm down, what was that secret mantra?, My cabbages are fine, My cabbages are fine, My cabbages are safe.

Dissecting all this situation a little.

Lady Korra was a very beautiful girl of about seventeen years, soft dark skin, brilliant azure eyes and long dark hair in tails. For a woman, she was very muscular; a single glance to her biceps was more than enough for me, to know that this Avatar was a natural brawler. But all that muscle only accentuated her beauty. Physically, she was very much my type.

She was a great fan of Pro-bending; which surprised me, considering how, in essence, Pro-bending was the worst form of turning the art of bending into a shit show. Tenzin and I agreed with the idea that Pro-bending was a mockery of real bending, but it was one of the few works that benders could take and gain some real cash. 

I will lie if I say that I was not endeared by her energy and almost childish illusion about the Pro-bending. But the thing is, that she was like a child that is discovering the world. She acts as is everything is new, and for what I recall about the previous Avatars, she must have been traveling the world by now. Only because Tenzin resides in Republic City, she is here.

We walked into the private balcony, just in time to see Mako kick the ass of his rival, ten times to Sunday. As Korra observed the spectacle from the balcony, I took a seat on the couch of the room. Unless Mako´s rival pulls some kind of cheap trick and bullshit, I knew that Mako had the pre-match one on one duel won. Korra seem fascinated by the match, so I left her to her devices, as I digest what I have learned. 

The Avatar is a brawler, with little to none knowledge of the world.

Perhaps, I am being unfair here, but for what Korra has told him; she seems to have had a spat with her master; Tenzin, I bet my soul on it; and she has been eager to see the Pro-bending Arena. Considering that she looks as a fighter, it was not a surprise, but as an Avatar, she should have studied bending as an Art and the spiritual side of it, not just a combat discipline. 

Well, she could be a kinetic learner and prefer a more physical approach to her lessons that the meditation that I personally knew was one of the major points of Tenzin teachings; but perhaps, it was the worst possible approach for a lass like Korra.

Without more information, I am working on supposition, and I could be totally wrong.

Please, tell me that I am fucking wrong.

Anyhow, after Mako won, I patiently waited for him to reach the balcony before we moved to the ring with Hasook. I don't have any doubts that we are going to win the match; our rivals are not that good and even with Hasook fumbling around, Mako and I will be enough. 

Mako entered the room and raised an eyebrow at Korra´s presence, turning his gaze to me with a question and a teasing dancing in the corner of his lips. Okay, I deserve that, especially after my last "relationship", if we can even call it that; was with a crazy Firebender lady that saw me as little more than a walking dildo. 

“She is the Avatar”, I dropped the bomb and Mako´s expression changed immediately to one of “what the fuck?”.

“She is a fan of Pro-bending, Butaka caught her and I put her under my wing", I pretty much resume everything that has happened. "I brought her so I can have an eye on her, the last thing we need is some cretin angering her and made her go all Avatar on our asses". 

“Uh, who would have thought?", said, Mako, as he shook his head in incredulity. 

“Hi, amazing match!”, said Korra, joining us in the conversation.

“Thanks, Lady Korra”, smiled Mako politely. I have drilled Mako some manners, just in case of Mako tying the knot with Asami; but totally works for this situation too.

“Are you a fan of Pro-bending?", Mako chatted with her a little before we wait for Hasook. 

“Yeah, bending is the coolest thing ever”, she smiled cockily. I kind of agree with her. “And I wanted to see how a Pro-bending match really was; radio can only show me so far, I wanted to see the real thing”.

“And Tenzin considers it "a mockery of our noble traditions". It slipped out of my mouth before I even slam my brain to mouth filter. 

“You knew Tenzin?", Korra asked with surprise in her voice. 

“Yes, I learned meditation and the Spirit ways with him”, I confessed, now that the cat was out of the bag there is no need to keep my friendship with the Air family a secret.

“Uh, I am trying to do that too, but I am not doing all that well”, she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

"Let me guess, the abominable revolving doors", I sighed and Korra smiled and winced with a shadow of guilt on her face. I have raised enough children in my past life to know when a child has been caught with his hand on the cookie jar.

Please, tell me that she did not lash like a bratty kid to Tenzin.

“There are no more revolving doors”, I did not ask, I affirm and Korra stared at the ground, a bit ashamed of what she has done in a moment of frustration and rage.

“Did I miss something, Bo?”, asked Mako looking at the conversation between me and Korra.

“Nah, you know that I trained with Councilman Tenzin”, I remind him. “One of the methods was a series of revolving doors that I hate with a passion, Lady Korra, seems to agree with me but she did in a more physical style, bending I assume?”.

“Firebend”, Korra grumbled, remembering the shouting match with Tenzin.

“Ah, that´s really unfortunate”, I really didn't like the implications of what I am hearing.

The Avatar has anger issues. I know Tenzin as a person and I know that Tenzin is a good teacher; maybe he has committed a mistake teaching this girl, but that was no excuse to blast a two hundred relic into ashes because you are frustrated. 

Mako realized that my tone was not precisely amicable, but the appearance of Hasook cut short the incoming conversation and force us to move to the ring. Korra seems a bit taken aback by my worlds, maybe she has fallen in the reality of what she has done and was double thinking her actions. I really expect is that way, the last thing I need is a bratty Avatar; Spirits, please, just, No. 

Although, I keep enough manners to invite her to stay in the balcony of the team during the match; she accepted with a nod, still a bit distracted by the trail of thoughts that I have dissed to her.

Mako, Hasook and I stood in our side of the ring; I didn't even pay attention of the words of the annoying commentator; frankly?, I never liked him; as I adjust my armor one last time. My gear was far from being precisely state of the art. To be honest, our gear was second hand from dozens of previous benders that didn't pass the cut in the arena.

Butaka was not precisely one for expenses, and that means that this same armor that I was wearing, has been worn by about a dozen of poor sods like me. The only difference is that it has been modified to fit my physical mass.

The match begins with the usual exchange of quick elemental blasts; nothing that I have to worry about, as I divert the stone disk my way and use to block the water on Mako´s way, leaving him ready to shot a wave to the enemy team.

I took a disk of my own and in conjunction with the one that the enemy team has tossed at me; I created a circular barrier. With the two disks, I can block most of the attacks of our rivals, allowing my companions to focus a little more on the offensive. 

Mako dances around the attacks and pulls a Dragon low sweep, perfect for me to turn my circular barrier into a twin missile that put two of the other team into the last lane. 

Then everything went to shit when Hasook botched up a dodge and pushed me to the ground; with Hasook over me, I curse him, loudly and tossed him off me; just in time to see a fire and earth disk coming our way.

Raising my left arm, I took the impact, leaving Hasook over the ring, but putting me down the ring and into the water below. The problem was that my arm has cracked very loudly. It´s not broken, but by the Spirits, it is far from pleasant.

Thanks to Hasook fuck up, we lost the first round and I am with a fissure in my left arm. I was about to smash some sense into Hasook, with a couple of nails and a big hammer; but Mako beat me to the punch and chew Hasook sorry ass for being an idiot.

On the sides, Korra is a healer and helped me to recover my left arm; thanks to the girl; credit when its due and she deserve the praise for knew her stuff about healing. Recovered, I saw Hasook leaving after being called a complete buffoon by Mako. I really agree one hundred percent with my brother, Hasook has been a drag, but now, he almost cost me my freaking arm with his shenanigans. 

What I never expected to happen, was to Korra to join our team and help us pass the round and into the finals of the play-off for the championship. Well, she was the Avatar, but if she only uses Waterbend, she could pass as the Waterbender of the team.

I will admit, with Korra on the team, we are freaking unstoppable. Thanks to her, we steamrolled the opposition. But I really get off all this, was not only a good teammate but another thing entirely, I saw first hand the style of the Avatar. 

Even if its only Waterbend; Korra is direct, straight and put a lot of strength in her bend. Her strikes are to the point and I can see influences of several other bending styles in her movements and katas. Despite her amazing talent in the art of combat, I instantaneously see that she just saw Martial Arts, not bending, not union with the elements, just punches, and kicks. 

This poor girl had zero bloody ideas of what the Avatar truly is.

After all this shit, I really needed a freaking drink.

This was not what I was freaking expecting about the Avatar. If this is one of the messes that Iroh spoke me about when I first entered into this world; boy, it was kind of big freaking deal. An Avatar that had zero ideas of what being an Avatar truly is. 

Spirits protect us.

The next day, I traveled to Air Temple Island to have a chat with Tenzin and to inform him that Korra is now part of my team.

I was not really in the mood for the conversation; Tenzin has already told me that Pro-bending was a bloody joke in his opinion. Not that I was of different opinion, but Pro-bending was the perfect way for benders of Republic City, to made a career out of their talents and train them in a controlled environment.

I found Korra playing with a massive white polar bear dog, on the forest that surrounded the Air Temple. I have come to the island after midday, so perhaps she has ended her training with Tenzin or they have another discussion. Again. Not really a surprise, I did have a lot of debates with Tenzin, but I never reacted as badly as Korra.

The growl of the beast made me stop, wait, all animals reacted to me like this?. I suspected that Pabu was scared of the lingering presence of Wan Shi Tong, but I never expected that such mark will harvest such hostility in other animals.

“Naga, no, she is a friend!”. Korra grabbed the neck of the Polar bear dog, trying to stop her from doing anything dangerous to me.

“Sorry, about that", Korra apologized to me, with her arms still surrounding Naga´s neck. Now I start to understand why is she so buff; if she had to deal with a small car size pet, I would be buff as hell too. 

“Naga is a bit protective of me”, Korra smiled with warm in her voice. “We have been together since I was a child”.

“No harm was done, Lady Korra", I smiled back; worst come to shore, I would Earthbend Naga into a corral and left her there until she calms down. "is Lord Tenzin in the house?, I have to talk with him". 

“Oh, yes, he is in the meditation pavilion with his kids”, she pointed out in the distance to the little building.

“And you are not there because you and Tenzin are still at odds with each other?". Really, I really should have shut the up fuck; but as a meddler, as I am, I opened my mouth. 

“Well….yes", she sighed. "I am not advancing at all with my Airbending, and meditation just doesn't work for me. I am trying to Airbend but all that Tenzin teach me does not work". 

“Lady Korra", I called her attention before she could go on a tirade. "Let me share a bit of a secret with you. I am an Earthbender, and you know why I become as good as I am? because Tenzin taught me". 

Korra looks at me with a raised eyebrow; not really seeing what I was speaking about. Sighing, I hanged my jacket and fedora hat from a nearby branch and made a bit of space between us. Taking a deep breath, I took a basic Airbending stance and I could see the surprise in the eyes of Korra. Her eyes widened, even more, when I started to Earthbend with the katas of the Airbender style. 

Airbend is a very fluid style, you have to be quick on your feet, always agile, always on the move. I spiraled over my left talon and made the earth follow my spiral, surrounding myself with a growing spiral of stones and compressed earth.

Jumping, I keep twirling and spiraling; never stops, never stale, always fluid and constant. I land on my two feet and quickly pirouetted over my right arm, using my legs as a helix; keeping the earth around me.

I finalized my movement by jumping back on my feet and with an open and wide movement of my arms, I send the earth that has been surrounding me into a twister of stone and earth against the empty side of the clear were Korra and Naga was.

Korra just stood there, astonished and disbelief painted on her face, as I recover my jacket and hat. Naga took Korra out of her amazement by slurping her face. Something that made Korra protest and grabs Naga off her face. Naga was still wary of me, but seeing that her owner approved of me, granted a nudge of leniency.

“That was amazing!", she excitedly pointed out. "I never thought it was possible to bend like that, how did you do it?". 

“As I said, Tenzin showed me", I shrugged. "Most of what I have done is mixing the quick movements and styles of the Airbenders with my Earthbend and create a more quick and agile style", I explained his pros and cons. "However, more advanced katas or trying to create or move bigger amounts of the earth would require me to be back to the more rooted and solid Earthbender Katas". 

“But is not Airbending”, she protested. “I am amazed, do not get me wrong, but I don't see what does it have to do with me”.

“Lady Korra, I understood that you have dominated three elements already, is it not?"; I was speaking with a stubborn teenager. Something that I am myself, but it tends to hide it pretty well. 

“Yes, I have already mastered three elements, only one more to go", she felt proud of that achievement and her smile practically beamed. 

Korra took great importance on the fact that she was the Avatar and it was clear that she was convinced that bending was the coolest thing ever. Nor that I disagree of course, but she was far from being a master of any element, much less three.

“Lady Korra”, I started when she suddenly cut me.

“Bolin, why are you so formal with me?". Now that threw me for a loop. 

I was doing her the same thing I did with the rest of the people I cared about; treat with utmost respect and neutrality until they call my bullshit to my face. It seems that I have only two switches, all proper or all chump. How peculiar, it was a trait that I did not notice until later. Influence of Percival perhaps?. 

“You are the Avatar”, I immediately answered, and saw Korra frown at those words.

“Well, yes, but I am uncomfortable with that treatment, you are a teammate and all; no one has ever treated me with such a cold and empty tone as you when you call me Lady Korra”.

“Ah, my apologies sweetheart; I tend to do that a lot; its a not so endearing trait of mine”, there you go, I was chumpy all of sudden, sometimes I don't even know whats going in my head.

Korra blinked and laughed at my sudden change of tone and voice.

“Well, it a bit of a massive one-eighty, but I preferred this way", she smiled at me. "Only the elders of the White Lotus treated me like that, and mostly as if I was a little child, and I hated it". 

Well, sorry to burst your bubble love, but you are a child. A teenager with the capability of crushing anyone and anything that replied to you. Fortunately, your uprising seems to have been one of love; I shudder to think what could have happened if someone like Ozai or that bitch of the Earth Queen managed to get a hold of you when you were a toddler. 

“Korra, sweetie, we are children”. I said to her and she looked at me with surprise.

There was a bit of hurt in her eyes; not to mention, how she frown. She was about to go on a tirade; increasing her grip on Naga´s neck, good thing the animal was sturdy as hell; when I bet her to the punch and start my own tirade.

“We, Korra, and I mean, you and me, are barely young adults", I was trying to deliver a lesson and an advice at the same time, knowing that is was more than possible that I was stepping into a bear trap. 

“As talented and powerful as you are; being Avatar non-withstanding”, truth and flattery, usually works, hope this is one of those occasions. “You; and I quote by your own admission yesterday; are very new on the ways of the world, correct me if I am wrong, but until the day you reached Republic City, you knew nothing of money, radio, satomoviles, politics, and hundred of dozen things”.

Korra deflated, as she remembered the horrid first day she had in Republic City, the wonders, and messes that she saw. I knew of that day because some of my old contacts spoke of the whooping that she delivered to a Triple Threat Triad wankers, in the middle of the street, in the middle of the day. Not a surprise that Chief Beifong wanted her in a cell too.

“You are an intelligent girl”, again, not really sure, but girls like to be reassured when they are hitting a low spot, no?, and Korra was hitting a low spot. “And I am sure, that you are trying your best to learn, to be the best Avatar ever, and you have all my support for that, but sweetheart, in order to do that, you have to admit that you need to learn”.

Korra seems to be thinking about what I was saying, taking comfort in the fur of Naga. If it weren't for the obvious discomfort that the animals had in my presence; I would have been eager to pet and scratch that fur too. I liked animals.

“Sure, I had my own heated arguments with Tenzin; and even to this days, there is a lot of things that he and I disagree, but I like to think that we are very good friends despite our differences". 

“Let´s try something different, okay?”, I said suddenly inspired, not sure if its going to pay off, but it was worth the shot. “Go to the library and pick up some basic Airbending katas, even without the Airbending part; as I have demonstrated five minutes ago; they will do good to mix with your fighting style.

"Learn them, apologize to Tenzin and show him what you have learned; impress the grumpy monk. For a magnificent lady as you?, it would be easy and pie, and believe me, Tenzin´s shocked face will be priceless".

Korra just hides part of her face, in the fur of Naga and just stared at me with a half blush forming on her face.

“Do you really think that, Bolin?”. Ha, under the bless of the Avatar and that jazz, she was still a young girl.

“I know it sweetheart; I am going to make a plaque that says "I am a friend and a teammate of the strongest and most beautiful Avatar ever" and hung it on my door", I smiled and then frowned. "As soon as I got a door to call my own, that´s it". 

Korra laughed and kissed me on the check, before dragging Naga with her; the animal huffed at me but we seem to be in a neutral stance, and that suited me just fine, and onto the library to follow my advice. 

“Thanks for the chat, Bolin”, she said me, before moving to the road to the library of the temple.

“Anytime, love, anytime”. I waved goodbye.

Now, I was left alone in the middle of the entrance of the temple; pondering about what I have done. I sighed and entered the temple, walking to the communal room, where; judging from the hour; Tenzin and the children will appear soon. 

Before I walk, Pema appeared from the other side of the wall, with a raised eyebrow and smiling at me like a Cheshire cat. Spirits, she has listened to all the conversation, and I am sure that he has got it all wrong.

Let me explain.

For the point of view of Pema, I was pretty much flirting and complementing Korra; cheering her when she was having a bad day. And it was the truth. Avatar, whats not, Korra was an energetic and beautiful lass, that was totally my type.

From my point of view, I was trying to nail a point to the Avatar; one that has serious problems; to get her head out of her ass and start realizing that all the people around her were trying to help her. That was true also. 

Now, I am unfair, I am being absolutely unfair and a manipulative bastard; believe me, enough kicks I give myself for that, but I am always working on the assumption that I am two seconds ahead of a mess like the ones that I survived in my original world. 

Yes, there are sometimes that I felt like the worst bastard in the world.

“I am surprised, Bo", she has taken a liking to call me that; considering that she was practically family, I was totally okay with that. "Never thought, you had it within you; you are a natural lady killer". 

I laughed softly and smiled at Pema, trying to make her understand that it was nothing of the sort.

“Korra was down, I just helped her up a bit; Nothing more”. I shrugged.

I realized that Pema was carrying a heavy basket from the orchard. Without a word, and don't even give a fuck about my suit dirtying, I raised the heavy basket as it weighted nothing. Surely, Pema was bringing them to the kitchen for the dinner.

“I was fine, Bo". Pema was stubborn, I was more and didn't even reply but kept the basket on my shoulder. "Do you help all the ladies in distress you met?". She joked and guided me inside the temple. 

“Korra and you are hardly ladies in distress”, I snorted and followed her like a good boy.

“Well, thanks, but I never believed I will see you being so sweet, does our resident Avatar strikes your fancy?", she teased me and I knew that she had all the good intentions of the world. She cared about me, is just that she only saw me as Bolin, the broken teenager with self-confidence problems. 

Not for the bastard that I really was, and I was eternally grateful for it.

“I will not lie, Korra is one fine lady. However, she is a teammate and the Avatar, in a resume, totally out of my league”; I laughed and delivered the basket to the kitchen's counter, from where the cooks of the inside could pick it easily. 

As soon as I entered the room, I saw Tenzin reading a newspaper with a teacup; I didn't see the children around, so I assume that they were up to their shenanigans all over the island. It helped me, as the conversation that I was going to have with Tenzin would be in a professional tone more than anything else.

“I said the same about my husband”, Pema singsonged from the Kitchen and I huffed.

“It is impossible to reason with you, woman”, I mocked in false grumpiness making her laugh before she entered into the kitchen and I moved to Tenzin´s table.

Tenzin saw me and smiled, allowing me to sit in front of him. We were already past the colossal fuck up I did, and these days, Tenzin seems to enjoy my company and my opinion on several matters in the city.

“Good day Bolin, what brings you here today?”. Tenzin greets me, as he continued reading the newspaper. 

Good thing the coverage of the Pro-bending was never of his interest or I am pretty sure that he would recognize Korra on the photo along Mako and me. I wanted to tell him the news, by myself and to the face, no more misunderstandings, I own the man that much, after training me and letting me live in his house.

“I have met the Avatar", I said, leaving my hat on the edge of the table. One of the servants, bring us, some more tea. Yu wen?, I try to remember the name of all the servants, but this one must be new. I thanked him nonetheless, there was no reason to be rude. 

“Korra”, Tenzin sighed. “Real spitfire that one, I am trying to be understanding but she is making it quite difficult”.

“Well, not I made it easier for you either”, I shrugged and Tenzin smiled.

When we were training, I was stubborn as a mule and twice the jackass that I am now; thanks to the Spirits, Tenzin is patient as a saint, otherwise, he would have Airbended my ass into the Fire Nation as soon as he met me. 

“Your case was a bit different”, Tenzin nodded, “is true that you were as stubborn as she is, but she is impossible; she rushes ahead, bulls her way into everything, can stay still for ten seconds without complaining and violently lashes when she gets frustrated”.

"Uh, sounds like your everyday teenager", I chuckled drinking my own cup of tea. "Speaking of teenage rebellion, I want you to come to the Pro-bending arena today".

That took Tenzin by surprise, leaving the newspaper down the table, he looks at me with curiosity on his gesture.

“Bolin, you know that I dislike that sport; if you can call it that”. Tenzin has always been vocal about his disgust fro Pro-bending. “but I don't understand what does it has to do with teenager rebellion”.

“Because Korra is part of my team of Pro-benders”, I drooped the bomb; as usual Tenzin´s bald head acquired a red color.

“What?!”, he barked.

“Yesterday, when she fucked up with the revolving doors, she sneaked into the Pro-bending arena, I found her, chat with her; she healed my arm when my other teammate screw up and took his place as the Waterbender of our team”. I say in a single tirade and inhale, patiently waiting for Tenzin outburst.

“What´s wrong with that girl?", Tenzin groaned, massaging his temples. "Spirits is as if she only answer to force". 

“In part yes, as almost any other teenager out there”, now is when I open my mouth and step on a landmine with a person that I respect a lot.

"Thing is, that she is a coddled child that had zero ideas of how the world truly is, besides her compound at the Southern pole and this temple; in essence, she simply knows no better, so she lashes at everything that doesn't go her way".

Tenzin observed me for a while, trying to decipher my expression and if I was trying to say something here. I have a very nice poker face; only Mako and perhaps Pema could see past it, but the truth is that I was not trying to antagonize Tenzin. 

I am...err, was a father and a grandfather too, I was very aware of how idiotic children can be and how little we can do when they got something in their heads. Korra was simply, a very stubborn girl that must understand that the world and the consequences of her actions, were bigger than she even begun to suspect.

Of course, I am the last bastard that could point out anything in that particular area, after what I did in the past and the constant weapon race that I have been running against an unknown enemy.

It was the worst of all this. I cannot defeat an enemy that I do not know anything about.

“Spirits, this girl is a handful”, Tenzin finally sighed.

“Totally agree", I smiled. "Tenzin, I am not trying to be a jerk, honestly, I am just pulling assumptions out of my ass, and by some cosmic luck, hitting the nail in the head". Not entirely untrue, now that I thought about it. 

“I think I can relate to Korra somehow". Both young adults, both powerful, both stupid and both will be in the middle of all kind of messes. "Until I made a horrid mistake that almost cost me everything; I did not learn all the good things I have in my life. What I am trying to do is to prevent such a colossal screw up for Korra". 

“Korra is a fine lady; sure, she is too much cocky for her own good, but she is different from us", true as hell, "and I am not speaking of the Avatar thing, I am speaking that she is Water tribe, she only knows of Republic city by books and radio and she is as lost as a platypus in the desert". 

“She is confused, lost and frustrated; worst of all, she put a lot of value in being the Avatar, and an Avatar that can not Airbend? Ha, that must sting". Frankly, I am amazed at myself, since when did I become such a good judge of character?. 

“I am not excusing her, she has acted like a brat; I did too, and I learned from it”, that was one of the reasons that I understood her so well, we have done the same, but on a different scale and situation. “Come to the Pro-bending, see her in action, see her at her best, and perhaps both of you could bury the hatchet and find a middle term for her training”.

For a while, Tenzin did say anything, and I just drank my tea. Screw me, these speeches are growing naturally on me these days, pity all of them sound so hollow in my head. I felt like a Machiavelli, plotting, scheming and moving them like pawns. Spirits protect me, I only want the best for them.

“The City´s Guru reputation is well earned", smiled Tenzin and I spat my tea. 

That freaking title!, I hated it, I am as spiritually enlightened as an ameba. Guru, my ass.

“I hate you”, I coughed trying to recover my breath as Tenzin laughed at my expense.

But he did come to the Pro-bending arena and by the Spirits, I even heard him cheer us. That was amazing. I always had Tenzin in high regard. I felt like a child that has made his father proud. Tenzin and his kin have become family to me, despite the fact that I was mentally and in a soul, almost twice his age. 

Mako was a bit confused at the beginning, but after I briefly explained the situation, he smiled and went with the flow. If I was happy, all was good on his part. Seriously, I love my brother to death, although, he could start thinking a bit about himself; I am not the same kid that he had to take care, I am my own man now, literally, and it was time for Mako to found his own happiness. Asami was a nice shot at it, for example. 

There is little need to say, that even if she freaked out a little, in the beginning, seeing Tenzin support her did wonders with Korra´s mood.

Riding such a high mood, we steamrolled the opposition and as I promised, when Korra danced with Airbending Katas, totally owning the enemy team, Tenzin´s jaw almost hit the floor. From then on, Tenzin even cherished us, discretely, of course, he was a councilman, and couldn't have favorites. 

All the good mood evaporated after the match.

That bastard of Butaka pull a fast one on us and demanded thirty grand yuans; the money of Republic City; or we were out of the Championship. So close, the championship was at the tip of our fingers and this bastard was trying to pull the carpet under us and screw us over.

Remember at the beginning when I was laughing at Amon and how he has just appeared in my life and made all my and my brothers efforts to get out of the streets pointless?.

All events that ended up guiding me to that particular and ridiculous event, started when Butaka pull that one on us.

Spirits, it all ended in a bloody mess.


	4. Equality for whom, did you say?

I do not respect the Equalist.

Not because I am a bender, but because all their cause rings horribly hollow for anyone that has two brain cells to rub together and has lived in this city for more than a decade.

Republic City was found by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko, with the idea of a place where all nations could live in harmony. It was a nice idea, New York; the spiritual sibling of this city in my world; was under the same premise; and as my New York, it soon turned into a complete nightmare. Much like Republic City was slowly turning, with their rampaging industrialization and westernization.

Don't ask me where the hell, such a rich and eastern like world, got the idea of becoming a facsimile of USA. Technology, politics, architecture. It's like being in the twenties again. 

Back to the main story.

After Butaka screw us over with the thirty grand yuan entrance for the championship, and be sure that I will have words with the fat wanker later; we separated.

Korra needed to get back to the Air Temple to continue her training with Tenzin, Mako has promised that he would found a way to get the money; and I suspected it was pulling extra hours at the power plant; and I was moving into a place that I swore that I would never step again.

Thirty grand was not easy money. It was the kind of dough that only rich people tossed around. The average income of a middleman in Republic was about a grand or two per month; for people like Mako and me, those thirty grand would be impossible to get on normal circumstances, much less in the few days we had left before the end of the inscriptions to the Championship. 

Yes, I know that Mako could have recurred to Asami, but to be honest, both of us would have preferred to neuter ourselves with a rusted spoon than asking the money. Pride? sure, but it was one of the few things that we had left. 

That being said, If I were Mako, I am not so sure that I would not have done it. Especially considering how they have been dating each other for almost half a year from now, and thirty grand was pocket money for Asami or her daddy.

Without my brother or any of those that I cared about knowing, I tested the waters with the only place where a retard like me could make such money and fast.

Yes, the underground. No holds barred cage matches that took place in the underbelly of the city. 

Don't judge me, is not as if I can just make money appear out of thin air.

I am not a Lightningbender that could pick turns at the power plant.

I am not a Metalbender good enough to be in the police, and I am not even remotely intelligent enough to pass the test to enter the force; not to mention Chief Beifong would have a fat laugh at the mere thought of me entering the Police Academy. 

I could Lavabend, not sure how that could become a work, but sure; perhaps I could work in the Melting factories; again, there are already benders there, and I have zero credentials to present to any possible employers.

I could Earthbend into the construction business, but anything I could do, any other Earthbender could do equally well and the payment would be average. Not enough to cover the entrance of the Championship, not even in a joke.

I am hell in movement, so if violence and battle is the only thing I can do; I only have two options.

Either I enter into the bodyguard business or into the illegal matches.

I would have entered into the bodyguards business, but again, I only have street credentials, I never get to school, I was on a farm and then I moved to Republic City. I am thankful that I can read and write and for the invaluable trove of knowledge that I got in the Library of Wan Shi Tong, but that is hardly anything that I can put in a resume. 

Illegal Matches it is.

I hate it but is the only way to where I could make money fast enough to cover the entrance to the Championship and prevent Mako to kill himself working on the power plant. To be honest, that was a last resort job, Mako always ended up tired and consumed, and I hated seeing him like that.

Sure, his bending always got stronger, but only after weeks of rest. His chi and body were pushed to the limits, earning money according to the hours and energy that he created. It was not a bad sum, but again, Mako would not be in his top shape for the Championship, and that was even worst.

I hated to do this, but I walked right to the building where Shen Hua had her office. Her real profession was overseer of an illegal arena, but as cover, she had a run-down gym in the slums of Republic City. When I entered the office of Shen Hua, she smiled as a girl who was about to get very expensive and wonderful gifts.

Shen Hua was a woman of Fire Nation ascendants; she had the usual black hair of the Fire Nation and took good care of her appearance; always dressing in Fire Nation traditional robes.

She was a very beautiful woman that took pride in her appearance and her skills with the twin curved swords that she favored. That and the fact that she was a savage Firebender that could give a run for their money to the Royal Guards of the Fire Lord.

Ah, and she was a total psycho that has an unhealthy fixation for everything pointy.

I was one of the few that could put up with her and who could put the foot down and survive her temper tantrums. That was the main reason why she chained to her bed, each time she could. Very few survive her love attention, especially when the knives come out to play.

My disastrous former not-girlfriend; as I was little more than a walking money machine slash dildo for her; was more than delighted to put me into the next tournament, but I was not interested in fighting for weeks. No, I need money yesterday, so I wanted the big shot from the start.

The Agni Kai.

Each six months, more or less, the Agni Kai gang organized a combat between the top of the fighters, a one on one battle to the death, in honor of the original Agni Kai tradition of the Fire Nation. 

Usually, only Firebenders of the Agni Kai participate. It was one of the ways that the organization had to resolve things between their members without intestine battles.

Winner takes all. But the Agni Kai was a very martial oriented gang, and when someone, no matter origin or story; managed to impress them, they offer them a place in the Agni Kai.

In this case, I wanted to participate in the Agni Kai, championing Shen Hua´s turf, for the thirty grand that cost the entrance of the tournament. Yes, it spits in all I have done for the last months, but I really didn't see any other options and I was not going to kill the poor bastard in front of me. Perhaps a long time in the hospital, but considering the death rate of the Agni Kai, I was doing my rival a favor. 

I despised myself; thirty grand, that was the price of my soul.

Just, please, Spirits, be merciful this time and make it never know to any of those that I care about.

Knowing my luck, I have just jinxed myself to the next millennia.

The Agni Kai took place in Triple Threat Triad turf; it was the only way to make sure that none of the Agni Kai mob bosses tried to pull a quick turf invasion, taking advantage of the Agni Kai. At the same time, the Triple Threat was sage enough to recognize the sacred status of the Agni Kai. If the Triad tried to fuck with the Agni Kai, they will have a bloody war on their laps. 

Even with their status of the top gang, the Triad was sage enough to play fair; and the bets and the incredible fighting spectacle was always a nice bonus.

The on that same evening, I was in the middle of big Agni Kai traditional ring; ready to face my adversary and cursing myself for being such an idiot.

My rival was not much of a menace, sure, he was a powerful Firebender, but alas, I knew him and his not so starring career on the lesser rings of the Agni Kai. He was straight and had a very brawler like fighting style; complemented by Firebending. Despite his overwhelming strategies, he lacked any finesse and had forgotten the basics in order to be a more modern fighter.

As we kneel in the ring, I knew that this was going to end quickly. From the main seats, I saw Shen Hua and other mob bosses, talking and betting. She smiled me, with that sweet smile of hers, that practically said: "Won or I skin you alive", and Zolt, the leader of the Triple Threat Triad, was looking at me with recognition and not little surprise.

Mako and I, had a very big debt with Zolt, something that would be clean with the prize of the Championship, a way of cleaning our names. In the years that have passed since Tozan picked up a pair of street rats like us; we have done all we could to get as far as possible for Zolt.

We still have to run numbers and from time to time act as muscle, but the only “serious” crime that I have ever committed was to be a cage fighter and that was with Agni Kais; one of the rival gangs of Zolt.

Seeing me championing one of the Agni Kais, must have thrown him for a loop, especially after all the bridge burning that I have done this last year.

The gong sounds and the fight starts.

Fire wave and fire burst, that whats coming my way. As the earth, I stood my ground and raise thick walls of stone. I am not bragging, I am just waiting for the moment on where this idiot is going to open himself up, with one of those flashy moves that common in the Pro-bending Arena. 

I am guilty of those too, a Pro-bending arena is a place of spectacle and show; designed to make the people awe with a mixture of elemental displays and a sport. In all, it was utterly useless for real battle, but in this day and age; everybody that has won three bending matches believes there are bloody masters. They could not be more mistaken. 

I repeatedly punch my own barrier, pausing only to reinforce it again with another layer of stone; so I can continuously throw a barrage of projectiles to my rival. In his defense, I will say that his stance is pretty good and his dodging skills top notch. But then he made a mistake.

You see, traditional Firebenders took a very solid stance, but as it happens with a lot of Earthbenders if you break their footwork, their bending disarrays a little. Thanks to Tenzin, I learned to be adaptive and quick on my feet when I am forced to abandon my stance; something that my rival is not.

In one of the dodging feints, he leaned on his back leg, trying to counter me with a focused fireball over my wall. Not a bad move, but as he forced that position; compensating he burst of flames by resting most of the body in the back leg; I ducked the wave and perform a wide low sweep.

Its a move that Mako and I learned from the Dragon Dance, I usually lure a lot of my enemies into a trap with that move.

When the earth shacked under his feet, the Firebender was tossed on the air and when he fell, I have already prepared four spikes waiting for him; I moved fast, my kata was quick and borrowed from the Water tribes, without giving him time to recover in mid-air. Good thing, he was not competent enough, to pull the fire flying trick, that was something that I only have seen in storybooks, but one never know who is on the other side of the ring. 

The stone spikes impaled his limbs with a sickening sound. I have been cautious, sure it looks horrible, but I have only pierced muscle, leaving bones and cartilages intact; I foresee six months of recovery in a hospital but without any lasting repercussions. 

I cut short the poor bastard screaming by clapping my hands and slapping him with two small walls of stone that left him unconscious.

In all, not a bad performance.

Then something stung me on the side of my neck and with a grunt, I picked it up; just to owlishly blink at a dart. I raised my eyes to Shen Hua with a "Seriously?" expression on my face, but whatever was on the dart it soon put me down for the count. 

I still listened to the chaos of confusion all over around the ring and the voices of all the mob bosses screaming bloody murder and the echo of all kind of bending being toss around.

Next thing I know, I am bound to a post, in the middle of a stage, where Amon, the most famous terrorist of the City was pretty much giving an "I am the chosen one", speech and then mow Zolt with a magician trick, that cut the bending of the man. 

I am still dressed in the short jacket and pants of the Agni Kai; I don't even have shoes, so I am kind of annoyed, but the thing is, that I was laughing my ass off.

Remember way back?, when I spoke of how I laughed my ass off in front of a big congregation of Equalist, at the same time as Amon put all the efforts of my brother and I into the garbage bin? now is that moment.

My laugh is the only thing that sounds for a while in the stunned silence of the stage. I really must look some loony, I am a prisoner of a man that could take bending off people and I was laughing as if it was just the best joke ever.

From my point of view, it really was.

“Ah, ah”, I was trying to recover my breath after the laugh. “Sorry, mate, sorry; my apologize for interrupt your little show, but its so Spirits be dammed, funny that I can not stop it!”. Then I laughed again, unable to control myself.

Seriously, there is something very wrong with me.

Between my chump/Ice king personalities, my skills to read people and my manipulative nature and my half retard ideas; I am the poster child of a loony bin. I really should take some time in the future to make a bit of soul-searching, neither Bolin or I were like that originally, there is an unexpected flavor in our little blend. I blame Percival most of the days for that one. 

One of the thugs of Amon punched me in the face to cut short my laughs, but Amon stopped more violence. I can not tell with the mask on, but I am sure that he must be, annoyed, surprised or curious about why I do not fear him, at all.

Oh, but I do fear him; my bending is one of the two things that I value about myself. The thing is, that I am pretty convinced that I have dissected pretty well his magician trick, and once you knew the magic, it lost all his impressiveness.

Well; I think I have dissected the trick, if I am mistaken, my “duh” face was going to be printed in the dictionary, illustrating the Fool world.

“Something funny for you bender?”; Amon´s voice is quite the achievement, deep, cavernous, its made for intimidation and impress. Not bad, I see why they say he is a charismatic leader and all that jazz that has been running on the streets.

“Oh, yes indeed”, I smiled, the kind of smile that you see in a tigershark before they feast on a tasty morsel. Amon must have picked it up, and I am sure that he is raising an eyebrow under that mask.

“I will hand it to you, Amon". I nod with respect. "You have built yourself quite the nice clique, you are so full of it, that´s not even funny, but the results spoke for themselves, and that´s something that I can respect. Thanks for screwing Zolt, by the way, you may have provoked the bloodiest turf wars ever in Republic City, but hey, details, right?". 

“You have managed to fool all these idiots after all", I spoke to the audience, who soon booed me. But they soon shut up, when I snapped the post to where I was bind. 

It was a common wooden post, considering my natural strength and how I have been slowly weakening it with Metalbend, it was not that all that much of feat.

The thugs of Amon, immediately put on guard; nice of them to do not attack immediately, but they must be as surprised as the audience. They are non-benders and chi-blockers, but they can be surprised as much as the rest. I only massaged my wrist and pick up some splinters from my flesh; damn, I really should have been more cautious. 

I softly whistled as I look at the six fighters on the stage, apart from Amon, and the other chumps that they have kidnapped at the same time as me.

“Tell me something Amon”, I raised my eyebrow in his direction. “For a supposedly, oppressed minority, how did you manage to fund all this show? wait, better question, how did you manage to get your hands in military-grade gear?". 

What? it was a perfectly legitimate question; practically all mobs in the city were doing themselves the same question, so they can repeat the trick on their own.

“Your stooges are wearing state of the art Future Industries´ gear; these six chumps, put together, are carrying around three hundred grand yuans in equipment. Bloody brand new, all of it, that´s impossible to get in the black market, not to mention the maintenance is equally expensive”.

Amon did not say anything; I must have caught him a little off guard. People are not accustomed to crazy nuts like me, and this was a very carefully prepared staging for Amon´s propaganda; seeing one bender that is not scared and that´s making very dangerous questions, must have thrown him for a bit of a loop. Time to drill another interesting nail in his speech coffin. 

“Ah, and another thing; If you had this kind of dough laying around", I should have to keep my mouth shut, but kicking this bastard in the bollocks was so funny that I can not stop it."Why in the spirits name, have you not fix your own face?". 

"Spirits damn it, mate. I know a good street surgeon, for ten grand he will make you appear like a movie star. That´s not even a third of what costs the glowing sticks of mustache over there". I pointed out to one of the thugs on the stage.

“Speaking of Spirits", I was on a roll and I was trying to capitalize as much discomfort and uneasy questions as I could before they dogpile me and Amon fucks my bending ten times over. 

“I know that you are lying", time for a little show to gain more seconds. "I know Spirits, I have the scars to prove it". 

I opened my jacket, so everybody in the audience could see the scars that Wan Shi Tong left me. They are not a nice sight, they were made with a pair of gigantic talons. They have healed nicely and I am pretty sure that I could get rid of them with the adequate surgeon, but they are a memento of a pivotal point in my life, and they will stay where they are.

“I know how Spirits works; I am Spirit touch, and you, champ? you are not even close to understanding the kind of bullshit that you are spouting". 

That was the straw that broke the camels back; before I can continue dissecting Amon´s speech, his stooges jumped on me. Chi-blockers and fighters with Future Industries weaponry. I was screwed, and I knew it, but I was going to make them sweat for it. 

One of the Chi-blockers came from my back and try to block my arms; I twirled around and connect a brutal haymaker to his face. The chack sound like of his mandible shattered made me smile, but I have little time before another fighter slam my knee with an electric baton and another hit a chi point in my shoulder. Grunting and unable to control my arm, I hit with a jab punch, the ribs of the chi-blocker and kicked the one with the stick in the bollocks. 

Two electrified batons, hit me in the back and I screamed for the electricity that runs through my body; before I could even recover, a Chi-blocker hit my chest and shoulders. Ironically, the scar protected me from the chi-block; perhaps due to the faint resonance of Wan Shi Tong, but I was without arms. 

Taking a page of Tenzin, I ax kicked the chi-blocker; much to her surprise, and sweep the legs of the one with the electric batons, before slamming my heel on his chest, Surely breaking some ribs. Another fighter comes and electrifies my ass again with an elec-globe before jump kicking me in the face and send me twirling to the floor.

I am trying to dish as much as I could; but in this situation, I am screwed and I knew it. 

Still, someone must love me up there or something, because when Amon and the rest of the thugs, moved to cut my bending, a dense fog covered the entire place. Screams and confusion assaulted the place.

Shacking my head, I tried to make a run for it, but a thug saw my intentions and stabbed me on the side. Clenching my teeth, I was about to fight the woman when my brother appeared and throw her like a rag, several meters on the air. 

Damn, I knew Mako have been training, I train with him, but he was packing serious strength under his skinny appearance.

Ah, his eyes told me everything I need to know, he didn't like this; he was sorely disappointed and a bit of hurt.

“Later”, I only need to say, before we made a run outside of the building and this whiny children reunion.

Ah, and Korra was there too, okay, I did not expect that.

Anyhow, we made a run out of the place and we didn't stop until we reach our apartment. It was a mostly silent run, as Mako help me to move with my side bleeding. Korra, Spirits bless her soul, healed the worst of the stabbing. By tomorrow night, I will be as good as new. She was that good at healing. 

Unfortunately, I had a lot of explaining to do and I knew that there was no way out of this. I have betrayed Mako, by becoming a criminal, again, and have show Korra a side of me that I didn't want her to know about. 

I have my reasons for what I have done, and they are good, logical reasons, however, there will be also consequences for what I have done, and right now, I can only try to run as much damage control as I can.

Mako was pissed off at me, sure; I was expecting that.

Korra was not sure what to think about me; for her, I was a bloody enigma. I was the man who helped her when she was down, her teammate on the Ferrets, or the bloody cage fighter and bastard that she has witnessed on the stage of Amon.

I can read them like open books, and I blame myself for playing with their emotions like this. I really like them; I love my brother to death, and Korra is a nice girl, once you get past her flaws; but I am not a nice person. I am what I am; trapped in the body of a young adult, and several of my decisions must appear as utterly nuts to this two.

Not that I am not totally out of my mind; more than once I have surprised myself thinking that I must be either half-retard of on my way to the nearest loony-bin.

I suggested to hold the conversation until morning, I am not going anywhere and we are tired and with emotions running wild; not to mention Korra must get back to the Air Temple and inform Tenzin of what we had discovered.

What Amon has done today has put him on the top of my personal hit list. 

I suspect how has he done that "remove bending" trick, but the real catcher here is that Amon had enough money to support and arm a little army of chi-blockers with United Army military weapons and tech.

That´s impossible unless you have the support of someone rich enough to afford all that good shit. There are not so many people with that deep pockets in Republic City.

Mako didn't buy my bullshit and didn't let me go; Korra was also intrigued and full of questions. She wanted to ask, but she knew that this was something that was personal She may be a teammate and a friend, but this was something between Mako and I. Although, Mako was already beyond that point. He was not in the mood for bullshit or distracting tricks.

This was not a conversation that I wanted to have, much less with Korra in the house; Asami or Tenzin walking into the house and I will be the start of a nightmare. Luckily, that didn't happen, and only Mako, Korra and I were in the arena apartment. 

“Why?”, simply asked Mako, and that phrase carried more questions that an entire interview.

“Because it was necessary”. I answered back and I saw Mako´s veins start to rise, he has a second before chewing me up, but I was quick and cut him short.

“Don't even try”, I shot him my own freezing glare, one that I have almost never shot him. “I know that you are pulling double shifts on the power station; that is not enough and you know it”.

“Mako, the championship is our only shot at freedom", I resume for Korra who was just looking at us, lost on the subtext of the conversation. "With the money of the price, we could clean up our files and made a living; that has always been the goal". 

“Thirty grand yuans; not even in a dream have we ever managed that kind of money". Cold, hard, facts. Those hurts. "You are winning a grand per two shifts, even in all the week before the entrance end, you are going to win seven or eight grand, and your chi would be out of whack for a lot. Competing in that situation is a horrid mistake". 

“Me?; a single fight, a single, freaking, fight and I had the thirty grand. We can inscribe tomorrow and we even had the money for improving our second-rate gear for the Championship". And that is the truth folks. The crime was lucrative, utterly dangerous, but lucrative. 

“We could have managed”, Mako started, “we would have found another way, instead you, just walked back into the gangs”.

“Stop", I set my metaphorical foot down. "Mako, please stop, you know the harsh and cold truth. My criminal record is petty, what I have?, ideas and accusations of being a cage fighter?, let's be honest, point me a single Pro-bender that didn't have one of those red ledgers in their career". 

“You and your girlfriend can not allow that". I pointed the obvious, but then I realized that Korra flinched and look a bit stunned by my words. 

Why would she?.

Oh.

Spirits, Korra fancies my brother.

“Don't bring Asami into this!”, Mako snapped. “She is not a convenient excuse for you, not anymore, she knows about you and the Agni Kai, I told her personally and she doesn't have a problem with it”.

I smashed my face against the kitchen table, provoking a crack in the hard surface and reopening the wound on my side. Mako and Korra were started by the sudden and violent action, but Korra soon got water out of her waterskin to heal my wound.

“Thanks, love”, I smiled at her before turning my face to Mako.

I massage the bridge of my nose, Mako, brother you are a very nice person, but sometimes you are a bloody idiot.

“Mako, you idiot; I never had a problem with Asami herself”, I have already try to nail this point but somehow, it doesn't seem to latch. Either I am being a paranoid fool or there was something going on that I am not seeing.

“Asami is an exceptional girl, and I am very happy about both of you; how long have you been together? a year?". Bollocks, Korra´s healing wavered and that confirmed my suspicions, she was interested in Mako. 

Spirits, how is Mako such a playboy, that she had two women over him?. The only ones that I attract are total psychos or are as interested in a relationship as I was in the reproductive cycle of the lionbutterfly. Sure, I am far from being handsome, but come on, I am not that bad. I hope.

“Asami carries the Sato name”. It was not her fault, she didn't choose it. “Now, let me paint you a picture. What do you think will happen, if her daddy founds out that your freaking brother, the brother in law of her only daughter and heiress of the freaking Future Industries was an Agni Kai?; the same fucking gang that offed his wife in front of him”.

“Daddy Sato is not a kind and gentle philanthropist", I need to dissuade him from that notion, quick. 

Word on the streets was far more credible than the propaganda on the radio; radio owned by Sato by the way; and in the streets, Sato was a wolf in sheep clothes.

“Despite all the smiles and help and shit like that he does for the newspaper and radio; Sato´s one of the worst possible employments for benders". And it was the truth, under corporate crap, benders always get the shitty turns in Future Industries. 

Then it hit me like a hammer, and I stood there, with my finger pointing out to Mako and my jaw hanging.

"Oh, Bolin boy, Bolin boy, you are such a bloody idiot"; I loudly cursed, massaging my forehead. How did I not see this? it is freaking obvious.

See?, that´s why I am half convinced that I have some kind of mental illness. I pick up something things in a blink, and I am half retarded in others; this cannot be normal.

I turned my face to Korra who was about to end the treatment for my wound. Her downcast face was enough to further my suspicions about her little crush on my brother. That must be rooted out, soon. Mako and Asami are happy together; the last thing they need was a meddlesome Avatar bulling into a love triangle bullshit. 

I am an old man, born and raised among the corpses of Verdun and survivor of the Second World War, my granddaughter was lesbian and I had to witness in amazement and surprise the rise of the Free Love hippie whatever movements on the seventies. I have seen a lot of things that have given me a wider perception of the world. And then, there was that Percival training in the back of my head. 

Meaning, that I had nothing against Korra fancying my brother; love is bloody blind. What I feared is how Mako, Asami, and Korra are going to handle the situation. That could go pear-shaped very easily and mind you, that Korra was the freaking Avatar, any consequences of that girl, would be turned to the eleven before anyone could blink and wonder what the heck has happened. 

Spirits, enough things I have to worry about.

“Thanks, sweetheart”, I said softly and warmly to Korra and she smiled a bit forcefully.

The bomb of Mako´s girlfriend must have thrown her out for a loop, and made her forgot about all she wanted to ask me. With luck, she will ask Tenzin about me and the old monk would be able to explain to her that I am not a scion of Satan. 

“Mako”, I call my brother, who is still fuming and one second ago from punching me into a wall. Again.

But my words have hit him with the horrid reality, and despite all his flaws, Mako is a clever boy that didn't delude himself with nonsense. All that the poor boy has ever cared about was our family; and right now, I was making his life a more difficult. At last from his perspective.

Thing is, that we live in a deeply flawed city. Built on very nice ideals, but whose inhabitants have soon deviated from the original dream and become something different.

Equality for all?; nice dream, horrid realization.

“Look, I know that you are angry, and I can understand why; but you have to understand, that there were no other options". Well, there was always more "illegal" ways, but what I have done was almost legal. 

I even had a contract redacted with Shen Hua´s gym as a “representative, in a bending show”.

“This was the quickest, safest, method to get the money, Amon´s delusional shenanigans were not in the plans”.

“Speaking of which”, I spoke to Korra. “I need you to get back to Air Temple asap and inform Tenzin of everything that has happened this night. Amon is a dangerous lunatic, that endangers all Republic City”.

“Yeah, I saw that”, she softly said, and she almost shivered.

Spirits, for a girl like her; who values her state as the Avatar a lot; the mere idea of taking her bending out of her must be the stuff of nightmares.

“Korra, sweetheart", I call her in a warm voice. "We are going to stop that bunch of assholic wankers, okay?. Do not punish you for something you have no control over". I look her in the eyes and said it an absolute confidence. 

She softly smiled at me, before picking up her things and moving out of the apartment. She needs to be on the Air Temple Island soon and inform Tenzin of the kind of shit that Amon was going to dish to the city. As a councilman, Tenzin could run some damage control and told Chief Beinfong about how really dangerous the Equalist are.

Mako and I just stare at each other. We could have an entire conversation with each other, just with our eyes. I think is a sibling thing. He didn't approve of what I have done, and I was adamant on the idea that it was the only way on where we could get the money and get out of the mud pit that has been our lives since a Firebender mugger hacked our parents.

I didn't want this, I liked the close bond that I had with my brother and my last stunt; necessary as it was, has created a fissure between us. But I can not do anything about it, right now. Time heals all wounds and Mako, right now, need some time for himself to digest the shit that has been pour over us. 

Mako may be focused on me right now, but he was there when Amon has taken the bending of Zolt.

Without him, the Triple Threat Triad is going to have an intestinal war and the rest of the mobs; who are pretty much like sharkpumas; are going to test the waters for a turf war. As children of the streets, Mako and I quickly realized the consequences of what Amon has so happily done. On the positive side of things, a couple of little runts like us, are going to be forgotten on the shit show that the Triple Threat has come their way. 

There is no real love lost between the Triads and us; for what I care, they could go to hell in a handbasket. With the Triad arming for turf wars and with the money of the Championship in our pockets, we can say our lives fuck off and start a new life on a better part of the city and without the shadow of our past lives as criminals. 

I have no freaking idea of what I am going to do with my life, but with the Avatar running around; I have the nagging sensation that things are going to get freaking interesting and equally dangerous.

What I didn't expect, was to actually have to talk to the Council in person.

You know, the Council was a ruling corp formed for five individuals; each from each kingdom; that essentially rules over the every day of the city. Never understood how a city called Republic works with a five individuals government. I don't even want to know, it surely made me depressed.

The City Hall, the building where the Council reunites regularly; was a very nice building. It was of the few buildings that had any resemblance to the original cultures of the people. I saw Earth Kingdom banners, I saw a couple of white pillars from the Water Tribes and if I was not mistaken, I was looking at Fire Nation mural.

Right now, only the Council was in session; with all the benches on where people attend public events, empty. This was a private meeting between councilors about the latest development with the Equalist. There were five councilmen present, along with Chief Beinfong and me. 

I was dying for a bloody drink.

Leaving apart Tenzin, I have no freaking idea of who were the other Councilors; not that I did not precisely move in the same social circles. I have listened to the word on the streets about the Councilors, and so far, they are pretty much, your average political bastards that are happy where they are, earning a freaking lot of yuan in the process. 

I didn't even pay attention to half of the discussions; I had my eyes closed and my breath steady. My side itched and I had Chief Beifong glaring daggers at me as if I had kicked her puppy with a steeled toed boot. We always had such an odd relation; she was not sure if I was a dangerous criminal or just a retarded vigilante that had zero ideas of what I was doing. 

Then Councilman Tarrlok; the one from the Water Tribes, Northern I believe; proposed to form a task force, under his rule, that will cut short the Equalist movement and Amon.

That was interesting; I open one of my eyes to look at him with intensity. Tarrlok was busy giving his speech, so he didn't notice my stare, but on the corner of my eye; I see Chief looking at me with a raised eyebrow. Spirits, I have unconsciously changed into a combat-ready mentality. 

I didn't like the implications of what Tarrlok was proposing. We already have enough idiots running around with weapons, to add another military force to the mix.

Tenzin opposed to the idea, the presence of another freaking army parading the streets was already dangerous enough, and even worse if that freaking force was under the banner of one, single Councilor. 

Look, I didn't know Tarrlok, so I was being totally unfair to the man. Maybe, Tarrlok was a good person as Tenzin; however, I seriously doubted the case.

Tarrlok was aggressive in his politics. Instead of empowering the already present, and utterly incorruptible Chief Beinfong; he was pushing for a personal Task-force under his command. He was looking for the approval of the Council, to fund an Anti-Equalist Task Force with the Council money and will act under the Council approval, but under his direct command.

Spirits, I can applaud his steel bollocks, to try to push that one, however, I was no freaking interested in another army parading the streets. Republic City was already a freaking power keg with the stupidity of Amon. An open war between Amon and the Task Force will be disastrous for the city.

Especially considering that Amon was as geared as the United Military of the City. Benders of not, shit will hit the fan and the city will go to hell in a handbasket. 

I am all about bitchslapping Equalist with a dose of freaking reality.

In order to do that, the Council only had to give more powers to the Police and to allow the United Republic Army to take down any Equalist compound and warehouses under the command of all the Councilors. Not under the personal army of an individual Councilor whose agenda was a freaking mystery for me.

I am paranoid. Yes, without a doubt. But a paranoid is only someone that has all the data. And the Percival thing is telling me that Tarrlok has a double agenda here.

And yesterday I had a bad bout with my brother, I was stabbed, I was kidnapped, almost had my bending removed, barely sleep three hours and I hadn't even had a cup of coffee, so excuse myself I am not feeling all that well this morning. 

Boy, I hate Wednesdays.

Tenzin called my name as a witness of Amon´s preaching and I stepped forward, taking my hat down my head and politely bowing to the Council. I have great manners when I want, I know its something that sometimes baffles the most, those that know me but as I have said a lot of times before, manners make the man.

“Honorable Councilors”. I greet in my best business tone.

From then on, it is a most of answering their questions, as best as I could and keep my thoughts under wraps. I had an idea of who was backing Amon and how has the bastard managed to pull that bending blocking trick out of his ass. 

Again, I was working entirely on suppositions and half-ass guesses so no, I was not going to accuse anyone of anything until I had solid proof. The last thing this city needed, was a witch hunt. We are already on the verge of an open war between benders and non-benders, due to the actions of a clown. 

Amon was the poster child of how the most dangerous person in the world, was an idiot with an idea and the money to pull it off.

By the end of the interview, I am in a real need of a drink and some painkillers, my wound was itching, and despite all the Korra´s healing help, it was a nasty stabbing wound just on my sides. A couple of millimeters to the right and it would have stabbed my column.

“You surprised me in there kid", Chief Beifong told me before I left the building with Tenzin. "You know how to move into this arena as well". 

“I prefer the other arena, at last there I know who is trying to kill me”, I snorted and the police chief laughed.

I accompanied Tenzin for a while, as I had my own business to conduct in the city.

Mostly, pick up the money I won in the Agni Kai; paying the Championship entrance; and relax for a while at home, as my wound heals and I made some research in the knowledge I picked up in the library about what Amon could have done.

Relaxing in my apartment was exactly what I need to vent some frustrations. I never realized that just researching a bit on my little trove of knowledge, relaxed me so much. I was never like that, not as Bolin, not as who I was in my past life. This was a new twist on us, and I think it was nice. 

Pabu passed most of the time with Mako, as I scared the little critter away. Only Naga seems to endure my presence. I blame the wound of Wan Shi Tong and the lingering presence of the Spirit of Knowledge it carries. Without making all kind of investigation on my chi and the help of a master healer, I will achieve that theory as truth.

Relaxing on the couch of my home; Mako was out on a date; I was smiling as I made myself dinner, one old recipe that was simmering in my memory. It was a humble stew, accompanied with red wine, to made a fulfilling dinner for a relaxing evening.

Then Amon hijacked the radio and practically challenged Republic City, with more of his propaganda about how benders oppressed non-benders.

“Fuck you, pathetic buffoon!”, I roared and punched my radio throw the window and into the streets.

That...was not my best moment.

Anyhow, I had to take it easy for a while; until my wound heals. I heal quickly, but I was in no hurry for the moment. I had the Championship covered, Mako and I had enough money for a while; thanks to Amon, the Triple Threat Triad was on its toes and the Police were more occupied with the mobs than with a poor street rat like me. 

And that suited me just fine.

For a couple of days, I just wanted to kick out and relax. At the same time, I made a couple of inquisitions among those whom I still had contacts within the underbelly of the Republic City. I may have made abundantly clear to any mob, that I was Not part of them. But I am still, capable of talk with all the smugglers and dealers; where do you think I got my suits from?. 

Rule number one of hunting down organizations like the one of Amon:

Follow the bloody money.

Where does come the funds for it?. Weapons, armors, training, stages, masks, and so goes the list on and on.

Equalist are an “oppressed” minority of non-benders that has been experimented some kind of damage at the hands of the benders. Call me old-fashioned, but from where the heck did this "oppressed" people get their money from?. 

Most of my contacts were as baffled as I was. No mobs have zero ideas of where the money comes from and they only know about the deliveries and the occasional Chi-blocking training center that the Equalist had around the city. 

That same night I made some numbers and realized that Amon could have a literal army under his bloody command.

An army of non-benders, armed with Sato tech weapons capable of killing benders and non-benders and trained to be able to fight against the army and the Police with equal easiness.

How in the name of sanity has this happened?. Well, I knew that daddy Sato was the pockets behind Amon, but how did they manage to run those numbers under everybody´s noses?. 

But worst of all, I had no proof of anything.

I could slip the locations of the gyms to the police, try to sabotage some warehouses and reunions and all that jazz, but I have zero ideas of where does the money come from. No one that I could reach, runs the books of the Equalist, and without a form of cutting the funds of the Equalist, I am essentially running a one-man war against the Equalist, by my own. 

That is foolish to the extreme by my side.

I also pass a lot of time with Tenzin and Korra. I liked the peaceful Air Temple and with all my money problems erased; I could devote myself to some research on the library of the temple about my suspicions about Amon´s tricks. 

Korra is still struggling with Airbending; she had the movements dominated, but the spiritual part of the bending was out of her reach, and that frustrated her a lot. Luckily, she had a sparring partner in the form of an honored servant who could give her a run for her money in the combat arena. 

Also, one of the few individuals that could best her in an arm wrestling match. Don't ask how it happened; I blame Tenzin kids, they organized the entire thing, but Korra was exultant to have someone to measure her strength against.

Still, her powers left me like a toddler with a pebble, but I had tons of experience and tricks under my sleeve, enough to always keep her on her toes. Much to her joy, to have a good sparring partner around, and coincidentally, a kid her age to speak with.

Korra took a lot of value on her bending skills; Amon was practically her worst nightmare made flesh. Through conversation with the lady, I get that Korra loved to be the Avatar, it was something that she has taken to her heart and made a good chunk of her personality.

I tried to made her see that the Avatar was more than punches and kicks; but as a teenager, she is having difficulties to deal with things that clashed with her vision of the world. A severely skewered vision, forced on her by her masters at the White Lotus.

Those assholes have raised her as a freaking child, and they surprise that she acts like one?. Big freaking surprise. Korra is just a lost child, and I try to, at last, gave her some indications of the kind of life that she wanted. 

Ironically, she desired to be the Avatar as if was the most important thing in the world, but she lacked any real comprehension of what the Avatar truly means and was. Worst of all, she lacked any spirituality. I shudder to think of what could happen if a wanker like the Face Stealer find her. 

The pain was worth it, thanks to our sparring sessions, she didn't get so low about her inability to Airbend. I will say that she appreciated me as a good friend and she was slowly taking my advises and words into more consideration than just another teenager ramblings.

But the “best” part of the week; to add more to my plate; by some cosmic joke on me, I had to attend a party toss by the city for Korra.

I tried to run, believe me, I almost jumped out of the window when Mako slapped the invitation on my face. The bastard of my brother has managed to get Future Industries to sponsor the Fire Ferrets. I almost had a heart attack, but at this point, I surrendered and just go with the flow. 

I only had to dodge the party, sure, easy as pie.

Spirits damn it all.


	5. Winning by Knockout

 

Next time I found Amon, I am going to gut the bastard and force feed his own bollocks to him.

This has become freaking personal; that bloody wanker has pissed off, beyond what anyone has ever managed to piss me off in all the time I have been living in this world. There is a limit of how much of a bastard you can be, but Amon has managed to tick all the wrong boxes with me, and right now, I only wanted his head on a platter.

It all began with the Spirits be dammed party.

Mako tried to rope me into meeting Asami and I run the hell out of any possible meetings; with her father around, it was a political and social landmine that I was Not going to step into.

Thing is, Future Industries is the new sponsor of the Fire Ferrets. Mako told me that, the very same day that I made the payment for the Championship, so much good money wasted, when the Satos were about to cover our expenses.

And the shit only went downhill from then on.

On the party; by the way, Korra was radiant in her dress and she smiled at me when I informed her of that fact; Tarrlok tried to push his task-force agenda with her and that already annoyed me. The man was way too aggressive for someone with good intentions, this was getting ridiculous.

In the days that have passed since the first meeting, Tarrlok has been sending gifts to Korra; even a Satomovile; trying to made her see his point on all this debacle. I am happy to inform that Korra has opted for the rational option and tell the power-hungry bastard to sod off.

Perhaps because she is scared of losing her bending, her most valued trait, the thing that made her Korra in her eyes; but the thing is that I was proud of her. She considered the situation and made a sensitive call about a difficult and complicated situation. Now, she was starting to become the Avatar that I knew she could be.

Unfortunately, and I blame myself and the White Lotus for this; Korra lacked the thick skin that the political arena required. Due to the pressure of the people around and the press; and If Tarrlok has not all these joke of a press conference staged, I ate my hat; she finally relented under the barrage of questions of the paparazzi, who only pushed Korra more and more into a positive response for Tarrlok politics.

In the end, Korra finally announced that she will join Tarrlok´s Anti-Equalist task force and that she was not scared of Amon.

The Taskforce was a go, and as I suspected; it was all under Tarrlok command. They hit several key points of Amon´s force, most gyms and training centers were people were training in chi-blocking and with Sato weapons.

Perhaps guided by her own fears and trying to confront them head-on; Korra publicly challenged Amon to a duel at midnight in Avatar Aang´s memorial and I knew where I was going to be that night.

Was Korra a damsel in distress? not even in a fucking joke.

Was she rushing into a big fat trap? absolutely.

Now, all that place was totally perfect for a trap, Korra would have to walk from the outside and ran into a place where she would be in the blind and surrounded by dozens of Chi-blockers and Amon. She has already said it herself, Amon was a coward, what kind of coward would face her head on? especially, when said coward had a freakin army of specially trained wankers against someone like her.

I patiently waited in the wooden beams of the main building, with several Earthbended rocks and stones, discretely, bended inside, so I will have ammo and stone to fall back when the shit hit the fan.

Sadly, the place was huge and I cannot be everywhere.

As I was checking the perimeter of the memorial; the explosions and light of Korra´s fire alerted me to where the fuck has Amon set the ambush. And it can not be otherwise, it was at the other end of where I was.

I ran to the place, just in time to see Korra surrounded by a bloody army of Chi-blockers and Amon´s thugs, as the man knelt in front of her and say something, I assume; with that mask and at this distance I have no idea what the heck is he doing.

I stomped the floor and launch a volley of boulders in their direction, catching them totally by surprise. As dangerous as Chi-blockers are for benders, between the surprise and the distance, they are screwed.

The boulders smashed into them, cracking bones and sending them like bowling pins and my assault only intensified from then on. I alternated between Katas, one for the offensive, one for the defensive.

A volley of earth spikes fall around Korra, isolating her from her attackers and I rose three boulders that circled me as a barrier, preventing any possible aggressor to reach me. After that, I raised a set of earth patches and focusing on them, turned into sharp stone disks.

I think this move is all from young Bolin, inspired by the Pro-bending disks.

The Equalist saw the menace and fumbled on their way to get out of flying saucers of death that were coming their way. They took they fallen; none of them died. As much as I would have love squashed them to death, several corpses in the memorial of the previous Avatar would have only put the police, even more at odds with me.

I sent one directly at Amon, that easily dodged it, but judging from his body language, he must have realized that I was not pulling any punches and that disk would have cut him in half if he hadn't dodged it.

They retreated and I lowered my stance; after being sure that they have not left any surprises behind them; running to Korra´s side. She lacked any marks or bruises, but I knew from an experience that even if a Chi-blocker left little mark, they can hurt as hell too.

The real damage here was mental, Amon has forced her into a complete powerless situation, and for a lass like Korra, that was something worse than death.

“Korra, sweetheart, It´s me, Bolin”, I called to her, kneeling at her side.

“Bolin”, she raised her eyes at me, and I saw the tears mystifying her eyes.

She hugged me and buried her face in my chest; her muffled sobs reached my ears and I just hugged her back, trying to comfort her with my presence and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. This must have been bloody traumatic for her.

For a while, we just stood there. She needs time to recover and I have zero intention of rushing it, right now, she will move at her own pace. With luck, all this utter disaster would become a valuable lesson for the future and we can deeply thank the Spirits that it has not turned into something, far, far more worse.

Korra cried her frustrations and fear on my jacket, and as she was venting, I sensed the presence of Tenzin in the entrance of the building. The bald monk, observed the damages and the scene of me hugging Korra as she cried.

Tenzin stiffened like a board and I guessed what he was fearing, but I glared at him and shacked my head; dispelling his thoughts about the worst possible outcome; before hugging Korra a bit more and tell her of the presence of Tenzin.

An hour later, I was sat with Penzin and Tema in the communal room of the Air Temple, enjoying some late night tea and explaining to them what has taken place in the Memorial. Amon has only made himself top of my personal shit list, and I am grateful that he is a two-bit villain.

In my old world, Korra would have suffered way worst destiny, before being killed without remorse.

“Korra walked right into a trap”, I ended the tale of what I have seen. “A dozen of chi-blockers with Sato weapons, in a dark room along Amon; Avatar what´s not, they caught her by surprise and subdued her before she could even react to the menace”.

“I knew the duel was a mistake”, Tenzin massaged his forehead.

“How´s the lady, Pema?", I asked Pema. She has taken inside the shaken Korra once we reached the Air Temple Island.

“Shaken, but she is sleeping now”. Pema said.

“Spirits, we are lucky that Amon is a parody of a villain”, I sighed in relief. “Otherwise, this could have turned into a bloody nightmare”.

Pema gravely nodded and Tenzin just stood stone-faced, mirroring my sobering thoughts.

In the end, the only thing damaged was Korra self-esteem. Something that could heal with the adequate support and now she would think twice before pulling another stunt like she had done. Amon has shown her how really dangerous all this game was, and that made her cautious.

Good thing, she had the Fire Ferrets to entertain herself from more dark thoughts; determined to never be defenseless as she had been, she has to toss herself into her training, in and out the arena, with fierce determination.

We practically steamrolled the opposition in the Championship´s first rounds. Mako was a bit surprised by the ferocity of our games, but when I told him what transpired in the Memorial, he grimaced and soften a little his Captain attitude.

I suspected that Korra fancied my brother, but I knew how serious Asami and he was. Mako was not going to cheat Asami and I hoped that Korra will realize that; especially after the little display that they made in the participants' balcony when Asami came to show us the new Future Industries suits.

Korra and I run the heck out of the place, of course, but for completely different reasons. Korra didn't like how her crush was sweet on another girl, and I was running from any attempt of socializing with Asami.

I know, I was being an idiot; Asami knew of my past, but it was not her´s who I was dodging, but her daddy.

Daddy Sato was seriously starting to tickle all my paranoid senses, especially considering that he was the man that has funded our Pro-bending team has the worst working conditions for benders in Republic City.

Another “I am a philanthropist”, charade move?, could be, but I was wary of the man before for other reasons and now, I am seriously starting to think that there is something rotten in Denmark.

Seeing Korra a bit downcast; another slap for her self-confidence; I invited her for some good Water Tribe cuisine at one of my favorite restaurants; Narrok´s seaweed noodles. The mention of real Water Tribe noodles did perk her up. Who would have thought, she was feeling homesick and a good bowl of noodles was precisely what she needed.

It was a bonus that I liked the place, it was one of my usual eating spots around the city; Narrok´s was a bloody master of the kitchen and his noodles were always top notch. Korra seems to concur with my judgment as she devoured bowl after bowl with a wide smile.

It was a nice evening; the only black spot was a wanker of the top team in the Arena trying to pull a dick move, forcing a confrontation. It was illegal to fight out of the arena, that would mean that our team would be disqualified. Korra put an amazing stunt with the help of Naga and we could get out of the spot without any consequence.

Korra thanked me for the date and kissed me on the check, before getting back to Air Temple Island. She is a fine lady, but it is clear that she is still trying to made heads or tails about the world that she has only begun to explore.

Later in the apartment I share with my brother, he asked me what were my intentions about Korra; arguing that dating a teammate was not a wise move; I chuckled and told him that he had more chances to date Korra than I did.

Mako was a bit surprised, sure Korra was an attractive lady, but he was with Asami, and pretty happy as they were; Mako didn't expect Korra to have a crush on him. Anyhow, Mako was not interested in Korra; not in a romantic way. She was a friend and a teammate, nothing else.

I was of similar thoughts. Korra was nice; once you pass beyond her flaws; but she is the freaking Avatar and totally out of the league of a broken street rat like me.

The Championship was practically in our pockets.

I am not one to sell the bearskin before hunting it; but after I knew of all the teams that stood against us, I was pretty confident in our chances in winning the thing and get out of the streets. No more debts, no more bindings to the Triad, nothing. All our life ahead of us.

Asami and Mako could finally start to plan a step up in their relationship and I was pondering about a more organized and prepared expedition to Wan Shi Tongs Library. I left so many things there, so much knowledge and wisdom, that it was a pity not to pay another visit.

But that will have to wait until the tournament was over.

Unfortunately, Amon had other ideas and the bloody wanker made a manifesto on the radio, about how the Council should close the Arena or there will be severe consequences. I hate this bastard, really, really hate his rotten guts.

His assholery and bullshit were starting to really grind my gears, and what was worst, was that he was screwing two of the things that I valued in this rotten world. Pro-bending and Korra. Oh, boy; Amon was quickly rising to my "I am going to neuter you with a rusted spoon" personal list.

An urgent meeting of the Council and they started to debate all this mess.

Practically all the Council agreed to close the Arena. And I partially agreed with them, however, I was afraid that this was nothing but another trick of Amon. The bastard has just announced that something big was going to happen.

The training of Percival was practically screaming at me about the shit that was about to hit the fan.

Now it was only a matter of time before Amon knew if the Council would bend over; allowing him to screw the city even more; or the Council would reject him, surely provoking another spectacle like the one that he organized in that warehouse, a month back or so.

The Council argues back and forth; I just stood there, patiently waiting for the decision, I have my suspicions about what´s all these is about, but as it has happened before, I need proof before opening my mouth and screw everything, ten times over.

“Something on your mind, Bolin?”, the voice of Tenzin cut short my internal monologue and made me realize that I was being watched by the entire Council and the few people that had been attending this meeting.

Namely Korra, Mako, Chief Beifong and I.

You bastard, I tossed a heated glare to Tenzin who just smiled and shrugged subtly. You wanted me to step in the spotlight and voice my thoughts, either I impressed you with how I can wave this political waters or you wanted me to suffer for taking Korra out of an improvised date a few days ago.

Sighing, I took my hat down and stepped up, ready to face the music.

“Honorable Councilors”, I stated in my best business tone.

From the corner of my eye, I can see Mako and Korra raising an eyebrow in surprise; it must be the first time for them to see my “Ice King” persona. I have never used it with them, except for a couple of words with Korra, when I first meet her outside of the arena.

“As a Pro-bender and a citizen of Republic City, I will admit that I am of divided opinions”.

Time to lay the speech and let them simmer in the bullshit for a while, with luck, they will pick up the diamonds I am going to drop and do something useful with them.

Not that I had many hopes in that miracle, only Tenzin, and Chief Beifong are decent human beings for what I knew.

“As Councilors, your duty is to uphold the laws of Republic City, for the benefit of all us; benders and non-benders alike; right now, a madman is trying to force your hand. Ordering you; do not mistake for anything else, Amon is demanding from you; to close the Pro-bending Arena; one of the emblematic institutions of this city".

"This is more than the usual dribble that Amon´s vocalist spouts all over the city. It's a direct attack on your authority and credibility. Amon is presenting himself as the political and social higher ground".

"Amon´s Equality is nothing but a pantomime; anyone that has been living in this city for more than a year knew that the benders are the ones that had it the hardest to get even blue collar jobs".

"With the uprising of Satomoviles and similar techs, benders are no longer essential. A bender with a Zeppelin could carry goods as well or better than an Eartbender. That´s the harsh and cold truth. Republic City is actually hostile to benders”.

"Amon´s propaganda and vile is nothing but quick demagogy and nitpicking at its best. An astute politician that is playing with the ghost of the Hundred Year Wars. Mind you, that I am not praising the benders here, my parents were murdered by a Firebender mugger, I know full well, how hard that hurts and how it marks anyone that lives through it”.

“Such movement is riding of the shoulders of rich non-benders; otherwise, I can not even begin to explain myself, how in sanity´s name, did anyone think that gearing these lunatics was a good idea. They have United Republic Military gear, they can hack the city´s radio as if it was theirs, they had training facilities and they had an inordinate amount of Satomoviles at their disposal".

There, follow the money my dears, let see whose fox den we are going to invade.

“Pro-bending is more than a sport; it´s one of the few instances in the city where bending is not only Not looking down upon, but where the bending skill is actually admired and respected. Now, Amon wants you to close the Arena".

“Amon´s intentions are a straight punch to the Council face”.

“Either the Council obeys Amon; making yourself look as weak as Amon wants you to appear in front of the inhabitants of the city”.

"Or you defy Amon; and I am one hundred percent sure that it is what he wants, and that will lead to another, very public, very staged event on where he will appear as a savior and a revolutionary to the masses of Republic City".

“Cold facts over the table, it all boils down to those two options”.

“Now, on a more personal note; I am a Pro-bender. It is who I am and what I am, now this masked clown is threatening my working and living place, of course, I am against closing the Pro-bending Arena. Now, as Bolin the citizen?".

I cracked my knuckles and almost snarled in barely contained hate.

“Amon´s shenanigans have caused serious harm to those I care about; I would be delighted to teach him the wrong of his ways, in a very violent and painful manner".

Back to my neutral stance and absolute professional tone. I think I may have scared some of them, judging from the reactions that I am seeing in the faces of some of the presents. And, now that I thought about it, I must appear as I am bipolar or something.

I knew that I was a bit out of my mind, so maybe I am a bipolar person; who knows, I am waddling in uncharted waters here. Bolin and Percival are as opposites as they can be, I just balance the two of them.

Most of the times.

“As Councilors, you had the last word. I have merely voices my thoughts and observations about Amon and his terrorist organization”.

I bow to the Council and put my hat back on; shadowing my eyes; I didn't want to look any of those I care about right now. I am still riding the worst part of my persona and that is never a beautiful sight. I will be fine in a few minutes, but until then, I will keep myself shut and in a corner.

For a bit, no one says anything, my speech has given them a feast for thought. Finally, Tarrlok is the one that proposed a vote; much to my surprise, everyone but Tenzin voted to keep the Arena open.

Chief Beifong offered her best men and argued that his people are carrying armor, turning the chi-blockers useless. Pity that most of the thugs also had Sato electric weaponry, that was perfectly effective against their armor.

As I have said, I am torn. I would have closed the Arena, that was inviting Amon to pull another bullshit out of his masked ass; but all my future rides on the prize of the Championship, last I need was for the Championship to be void and I was screwed ten times over.

Yes, I know, I was being selfish, but can you blame me?.

Before I could run the hell out of there, Mako grabbed my arm and stared at me. I think I have already said, how much can Mako says with even a look, and right now, he was demanding some answers about who the heck was I and what have I done with Bolin.

I whispered Narrok´s and he understood that we will meet there later. I reunited with Mako by lunch, in the restaurant and we have a talk.

Mako knew of my six months and knew of my past with Agni Kai, I was simply capitalizing on the fact, that I changed during the time that I vanish, and that I was simply voicing thoughts that previously, just kept to myself. Mako was not entirely sure that he knows me anymore, as soon as we begun to be back on the good old days, I threw a curveball at him, and Mako hated that.

Now, I love my brother, I have never done anything to hurt him. Well, not intentionally anyway, I am not interested in hurting one of the few people that I care about. Thing is, the harsh decisions that I have taken to get us out of the misery that we have been paddling through all your lives, may have opened a breach between us.

Luckily, we are mature enough to talk it, and from time to time; Mako will punch me to bring me back to reality. In all, it would say that we are pretty good, we are far from being the perfect brothers, but we had each other back, come hell or high water. Little more one can ask, in this little crazy world.

We continue to breeze through the Championship, with some hiccups here and there; mostly because we had been a team for a month and we are still accustomed to each other and the three of us had to refrain ourselves to use more advanced and dangerous bending techniques.

It was one of the reasons why I agreed with Tenzin, in calling the Pro-bending a sham. It was not real mastery, just basic tricks, and control over stable quantities and shapes of elements. More than once I have surprised myself, trying to bend the bloody ring into a crushing maw or turn the enemy disks into spiked traps.

These days, with three winning matches under your hat you are considered a master. It could not be further from the truth.

When the day of the final come, I was eager to demolish the other wankers; the White Fall Wolfbats. They are a team that was total assholes; they have been at the top for four years and they have believed their own publicity. The cretin that tried to provoke a fight at Narok's?, was Tahno, part of the Wolfbats team.

There was a good mood at the team´s lockers, despite the menace of Amon and what Mako and I were betting on these championships; it has been a long road and we are seeing the goal. It is a good sensation, to see that all the effort is finally paying.

I tightened the cords of my gauntlet as I observe the public and the ring. I saw Tenzin and Lin chatting in one of the sides of the public; I would have never expected Tenzin to be in a Pro-bending final, but with was on the stake, it was hardly a surprise.

Oh, Spirits be damned, is that people dressed as us?. What is going on here? is that even legal?. Come on, this is bloody embarrassing; enough I hate to be on the public like this, to actually see people dress as us. I raised my eyebrow at the Korra wannabees and growl at the people with my hat or the red scarf of Mako.

Spirits be damned, these people are nuts.

And the other team brought fireworks.

I agree with Tenzin, this is a bloody mockery of the real bending, but this accursed City was built in a parody of USA and using steamesque technology that I am not even sure how the heck does it work. In fact, I tend to be far from tech; I had enough technical knowledge to improve their tech a thousand times and even guide them into a nuclear era.

That´s a bloody fucking NO.

I want the world to recover his spirituality, to relearn that bending is a far better alternative than mine, deforest and harvest wood, carbon, and gasoline. Ironically, that would be something that Korra has to try to teach to the world.

Ah, but toilet paper and plumbing are amazing, so we can still have those.

You know, I try to be a pleasant person; I tend to do not react in ultra-violence to everybody around when they annoy me. And I am a Lavabender, I am freaking dangerous. But my patient was already running thin with all the events that have taken place in this last weeks. When the Wolfbats started to cheat, I was about to say "Screw it!" and Lavabend these assholes to the next era.

We are a good team, but this blatant cheating that the Wolfbats are doing is seriously pissing me off. Then I commit that mistake, and that was to pay back the cheat with a less than legal movement. I slammed one of my disk on the back of the knee of the Wolfbats, and when he kneels, I use their own disk to uppercut him out of the ring.

Penalty, my ass; he is bloody lucky that I have not ripped his bloody head off.

Unfortunately, it was clear that the referees were paid for look the other way around when the Wolfbat keep cheating and finally, managed to pull an illegal knockout on us. They broke a disk and hide the stones inside the water blast; when the blast put Mako and Korra down the ring, I was so worried for my brother that I took it on the chest and noticed how my ribs cracked.

I think, I eared Tenzin and Chief Beifong roar in protest for the brutal move.

I was stunned and the Wolfbats took that chance to try to shoot me down; I reacted by instinct and raise a stone wall in the middle of the ring. That would usually mean a disqualification and some time off in order to repair the arena.

But the Amon play his cards and essentially; cut the bending of the other Team and made an announcement of how this was another show of how the benders cheated their way into victory. Frankly, I was not in the mood for his bullshit and just jumped out of the ring to help Korra and Mako recover from the strike.

Just in time to see mustache glowing sticks attacking them as they get out of the water.

I called earth to my legs and slammed against him with a stone flying kick that sent him flying and possible with arms and chest broken. I was not in the mood for delicacies; I just wanted the head of these fuckers on a bloody platter.

My ribs were killing me by the way; I awoke Mako and Korra and inform them of the shit that was going on. Korra ran to the upper ring with a tower of water and Mako and I started to kick the ass of all Equalist on our way up. When we are together, the brothers are dangerous as hell.

Still, it Amon has enough people to blow the freaking Arena into pieces and essentially, turn all mine and my brother efforts to make a living out of the streets, moot.

To say that I was enraged as hell would be put it mildly.

Amon has screwed with Korra and with Pro-bending, he has provoked the start of the worst turf wars in Republic City in ages and he was screwing my chance to say fuck off to my past and look for a better life.

Now, this is freaking personal.

Coincidentally, it seems that Chief Beifong has the same idea and was going to step down from the Chief position to hunt Amon by all means. Unfortunately, Chief was a woman of steel and lacked the necessary street smarts to actually pull a vigilante move on.

Just opposite of me, who know who beat the tar out of them to get the information I need to tear Amon and his cronies a new one.

After all the disaster, Mako and I were homeless, Korra and Tenzin offered us a place to stay.

I accepted as I have already passed enough time on the temple to know it like the back of my hand. I also took the opportunity to move all the knowledge I still got a form, Wan Shi Tong, into the library of the Air Temple.

Mako, on the other hand, accepted the offer of his girlfriend to live with her; and considering how the things were going, I agreed with Mako. I would never step into the mansion, but I was happy for the couple that was moving together. For young adults like them, it was a big step.

I suspected that Korra was annoyed by that, as she still had the lingering feeling for Mako; but I prefer things that way.

Me? I only need the Air Temple as a place to sleep and store the knowledge of Wan Shi Tong before I paint the city with Equalist blood.

I even gifted Jinora with a very nice book about spirits, earning the eternal gratitude of the girl, whose connection with the Spiritual world was incredible. She has a talent; speaking of which, she confirmed my theory.

Wan Shi Tong presence lingered on me like a mantle. It was even distracting for her, and the reason why she always knew when I was around. For any spirit or sensitive person, my presence would be akin to the Spirit of Knowledge, and that was not a little feat.

In resume, I reek of Spirit owl, that was why all the animals considered my dangerous. Well, thanks for the mark Wan Shi Tong, you big freaking chicken.

As Korra moved to pass time in the Sato Manor with Asami and Mako, I was on my way to sweep the city with Equalist blood.

Now that the Pro-bending Arena was closed and the Championship basically screwed ten times over, I was essential, jobless and homeless. The perfect opportunity to wreak havoc on the asses of the Equalist.

I have to be careful, I must do it in a way that did not speak of my intervention; just sudden bad luck, that casually hit the Equalist. At this point, I didn't really care three fucks about covering the streets in blood. I knew of five warehouses and training centers of the Equalist; I picked the biggest one and studied it all morning and part of the afternoon.

When I was sure that it was just filled to the brim with those assholes, and there were no civilians present, beyond fighters or gear; I stood my ground in a nearby alley and focus all my chi in accessing the metallic pipes under the building.

For what I take from the history books, Toph Beifong was the first one to Metalbend, essentially, controlling the earth inside of the metal. I am a Lavabender, I can turn the earth, into Lava. I can turn the tiny piece of earth inside impure metallic alloys and turn them into lava.

A sudden tear of lava, in the middle of a gas pipe or a gasoline deposit.

Big kaboom and big fire assured.

One less bunch of wankers to deal with.

Whistling a tune, I disappeared on the alleys, getting far from the epicenter of the explosion. Anyone who investigated will only lead to a conclusion of a faulty gas line. It was the truth, after all, a tear of lava into a gas line it's a very faulty design.

Several streets away from the crater; I entered into a food stall and bought myself a couple of snacks for a job well done. This was my first strike against those bastards and by all that's sacred, I pretend to continue culling them down like wheat until the Equalist is nothing but a side note in history.

I must be extra careful though, as I was being a vigilante right now, and the police would be on my ass as soon as they get an ear of what I have done. Of course, there was no way to relate me to this mess; heck, even I can demonstrate that I was not even near the place and everyone that even knows that I am a Lavabender didn't know exactly how far can I bend.

As I walked down the streets; making an efficient charade that I was looking for vengeance against Equalists, and that I was cleaning the bill with the streets as I was now a Pro-bender Champion; one of the police cars passed right through my side and I recognized Chief and Tenzin faces through the windows.

They were in a hurry, but judging from the direction of the car, they are not moving into the warehouse that I have erased from existence, but to the high part of the city. How curious, neither Chief of Tenzin moved much into that part of town, it was full of nobles and pompous idiots; ironically, the richest part of town, formed, by the majority of it; from non-benders.

Benders oppression, my ass. Perhaps, in the one hundred wars, was that way, but today? not even in a joke, and no, crime does not count, there are the bender and non-bender assholes in equal measure.

Well, I call it a day and retire to the Air Temple, is been a while since I played with the kids and a bit of relaxation would do me good after all the shit that the city has been throwing at me.

Pema was delighted to have me for the evening; not to mention the kids, who dragged me into all kind of games all over the island. Jinora had a shit ton of questions that I did all I could to answer, the curiosity of the girl was unquenchable. I knew Tenzin had business in the city that will have him occupied and that he was with the Police, so there will be no problems.

For a while, I just kick back and relax; drinking my first real cup of Jasmine tea in what looks like a lifetime ago.

Later in the night, Mako, Asami, and Korra come into the Air Temple Island with Tenzin and I just stared at them without really understanding what the heck was going on. Then, they explain to me the kind of bullshit that has happened to them and I had the sudden urge to smash my head against a wall, repeated times.

I should have known, I should have accompanied my brother, I knew that daddy Sato was not clean; Spirits be damned, I freaking knew it!.

Someone with the severe dough was behind the Equalist, and when the Cabbage Corp was caught pants down, I thought that that was it, but Daddy Sato was still on my "avoid" list. Mostly because of my brother´s relationship with the heiress of Future Industries.

Well, at least, I had the first real conversation with Asami.

She was a very intelligent and nice lass, a good compliment for my brother. Also, it would be a good thing for Korra to have a girl her age to talk too, one that is a bit more experienced in the Cities in an out. Asami may look a rich girl, but she was sharp and clever, so her ideas would be appreciated.

By the next day afternoon, my personal shit list has grown to include another name. Tarrlok.

The Councilor has taken advantage of how Chief stepped down and put a political puppet on her old post; the puppet man practically has given control of the police to Tarrlok, who has started an all-out war against the Equalist.

I tried to advise them, I told them that thanks to Amon, the underground is in the freaking verge of the bloodiest turf wars ever, and this asshole thinks that establishing Martial law by force, is going to spot the already restless state of the city.

Also, Korra was also feeling quite down. Tarrlok seems to have slapped her with all her flaws and Tenzin has also tried to help her, but lately, the lack of success in her Airbender training beyond the katas and the absence of any spiritual progress has deflated her sails a little.

Mako, Korra and I, were on one of the coasts of the Air Temple Island, as Korra told us about the shitty day and how Tarrlok has kicked her out along Tenzin and practically declare martial law in the city, under his control.

“I am the worst Avatar ever!”, Korra shouted and I sighed deeply.

“Bullshit", I simply answered and she blinked at me, along with the other two.

“What?", I blinked at them. "Come on, she is not the worst Avatar ever, she is just training, for Spirit's sake, is everyone here forgetting that the Avatars are also human?".

“But I am a spiritual failure”, Korra protested, still kicking herself for that.

“No, you are not", I put my foot down for that matter. "You know, who is a bloody failure at it?; I am, why? well, you did see my little scar, is it not?". That shut her up quickly.

“Look at me, I am the living proof of how do not proceed with spirits”, I reminded her. “I was Pabu´s favorite perch, look at him now”.

The little ferret has been passing between Mako and Asami, but never entirely at ease at my presence.

“Remember how Naga reacted at me?, all animals are like that, they saw me as a giant, spirit owl, meaning, a danger”, I resumed the discovery that I made with Jinora, yesterday.

“Korra, sweetheart; all the Avatars before you need years, freaking years, to even begun to consider themselves worthy of being called Avatars”. It was time for a history lesson. “Remember your predecessor; Tenzin´s own father?, do you know what happened when he rushed in his Firebending training?”.

“I can not speak with my past lives”, she frowned downcast.

Ah, Spirits, I was not looking for that reaction, my bad.

“But you can read what they left behind, Jinora does continuously”, I pointed out at Korra that looked at me, with one of those, I am not much of a bookworm, expressions of her. “Point is, that on Avatar Aang´s first attempt at Firebend, he burned Lady Katara, badly”.

That made Korra state at me in amazement, that was not part of the tale of the amazing Avatar Aang and his adventures.

“Avatar Aang´s swore to never Firebend again", I continued the tale. "Terrified of what he has done, and only after Lord Zuko changed his ways and helped him learn the Dance of the Dragon, did Avatar Aang start to lose his fear over Firebend".

“Dance of the Dragon, uh?”, smiled Mako. “So, that´s where you get it from, is the style of Fire Lord Zuko”.

“It suits us, Mako", I smiled at my brother.

“Wait, that dance like katas that the two of you sometimes uses are part of the Firebending style of the Fire Lord?", Korra pointed out to us. "Why didn't you teach me that, is freaking cool?", she protested and I started to see the Korra I liked.

“You didn't ask”, I shrugged.

She stared at me with her mouth open and her finger pointing at me; before she made some incoherent noises and screamed in frustration to the open sea beyond the little corner of the Air Temple Island on where we were standing.

“I never thought you could dance", Asami teased her boyfriend, leaning on him.

“You didn't ask", mimicked me, Mako, earning for himself a playful slap from Asami.

It didn't escape to my attention, how Korra winced a sec at the display of the couple; but it was not the same look that she had several days prior, so I will guess and say that she was getting over it.

“Korra, love, you are hardly the first Avatar that wants to scream in frustration, in fact, Avatar Aang needed a lot of help to even begun to Earthbend, like a lot of help and a lot of screams and frustration; well, according to his journals". I told her, "so, no, you are not the worst Avatar ever, just a young and learning Avatar".

“Thanks, Bolin", she smiled at me and I just shrugged.

“Happy to help”, I smiled back.

“Bo, your little, unofficial title on the streets seems to be spot on”, Mako suddenly said and I groaned in frustration of my own.

“Title?", Asami raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were no longer in the cage matches".

“No, no", said Mako for me, as I glared dagger at him, much to the amusement of Korra and Asami. "Its something that people started to call him on the streets when he had talks with vagabonds, the kids at the plaza, the low-class benders of the stalls of the park; people like us".

“Shut up, Mako”, I growled without any malice. “I hate it”.

“The City´s Guru", Mako smiled at me and right now, I wanted to punch him to the next island; I even made a half-assed gesture with my punch, as the girls laughed at me.

“So, Guru, eh?", Korra cleaned a tear. "It suits you, you know; you always rock solid and composed, always knew what people need and you are even a Spirit expert".

“Nah, I am a crazy nut, I simply had a hell of a poker face", I laughed.

“I will say", deadpanned Mako. "Especially after the speech, you laid at the Council Hall; now I am gladder than ever that you never took up a political career".

“Actually the kids had a name for it”, suddenly said Korra, tapping her chin with a finger. “Nice Bo/Scary Bo switch”.

I blinked a pair of times, now that was new; it was a bit drool, but they are children; what were you expecting? a complex haiku?.

“Its something that I picked up during my six months leaves of absence", I pathetically defended myself, scratching the back of my head sheepishly. "Not the best moment of my life, I am still apologizing for that".

“Ah, yes I do remember that”, Asami picked up the reference. Mako leaned on her a lot during those days, as she was leaning on him now, after all the debacle with her father.

Korra, on the other hand, seemed a bit lost, so I gave her a resume. It was not one of the best moments of my life; I prefer to keep it under wraps, even now that the scar that the old owl gave to me was in the open. Only two people knew of my Lavabending skills and it will continue like that for a while.

“Scary Bo would have come in handy today”, Korra smiled sadly. “Tarrlok has practically put the city under his control; he has even put a puppet in place of Chief Macgruffy”.

“Chief Beifong”, explained Mako to Asami.

“Not really a surprise, I tried to tell the Council, but Tarrlok was adamant about it”, I shrugged.

I had already foreseen that, I was just expecting a miracle or Tenzin and Chief..err, she was no longer Chief; Beifong´s influence would lessen up the disaster that Tarrlok was bringing to the city.

“If, and this is a big if", I mussed out loud. "Tarrlok´s strike force become what I suspect, soon the city will become a police state. Using the excuse of the Equalist, they are going to justify every action they could take".

“But the rest of the Council would not let him do that”. Pointed out Asami, more accustom to politics and business than the rest.

“They cant do anything, remember?, Chief puppet has stated in the press conference, that all Equalist activity will be exclusive competence of Tarrlok”. I pointed out back.

"In layman terms, if the Taskforce goes to a building and turns the place into a war zone, Tarrlok would be only one with the power and the authority to do anything about it; Spirits, he can arrest whoever he wants to know and with the excuse of "Equalist collaborator", the arrest would be completely legal".

“But we can not allow that”, said Korra and Mako grunted his agreement. “Come on guys, I am the Avatar, I must do something”.

I sighed, took my hat off, scratch my head, massage the bridge of my nose and put my hat on. This is going to be difficult, and I am already sure that I am going to fail in sending my message.

“Korra, sweetie, unless the Avatar powers came with an innate mastery of Politicbending; there is nothing you can do, at much, you could do volunteer work and take down Equalist before the Taskforce appears and turns the situation in a bloodbath and..you are going to do exactly that, isn't it?".

And I answered myself, Korra smile was practically beaming.

“It's a brilliant idea", she said and the rest were on board in a second.

Mostly because leaving her alone would be a dick move, and neither Mako or Asami was the kind of person that does that. Asami wanted to compensate for the damages that her idiotic father has done and Mako would never allow any of the two to go alone if he could help. Me? I am the idiot that gave the idea of Team Avatar and had to sleep in the bed that he has made by himself.

Korra liked a lot the idea of a Team Avatar, even Meelo loved it; just at the moment that he appeared from nowhere and gassed our hands when we were putting it together as the formation of the Team. The kid agreed with us wholeheartedly even if he didn't understand anything about whats going on.

I will be honest, he may be an annoyance sometimes but he was part of Tenzin family and it was funny to play with a kid, that only wanted to play because he was a kid. Much like what happened with Ikki and her eternal curiosity and thousand words per second.

So, as Team Avatar we had to take a Satomovile and patrol the city; Naga would never allow me to ride on her; listening to the police radio. It was funny and exciting and a perfect opportunity for practicing our combat skills.

Did you know that Asami was a master hand-to-hand combat?, yeah, I was surprised too when I saw it, but I hide it very well with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smile. She even huffed at me for being a smartass. Well, it was funny to appear as I was knowing it all, but sometimes was tiring to keep the facade up.

The press loved us, but the Councilor Tarrlok not so much. After the threatening of rigor for being in his way; he left us to go, but I was suspecting that there was something else going on here. This power hungry Councilor was hiding something; otherwise, he would not have provoked this coup de tat in the city without a real master plan behind all this.

Why? why this urgency and iron fist in controlling the city? why now?. If I didn't know better, I would say that the Councilor was Amon, as the clown was the one that has provided Tarrlok with the perfect excuse to create the Taskforce and basically put the entire city under Martial Law. But Amon and Tarrlok were of different body build, a different voice and eye colors.

And I checked, when Amon appeared at the Arena, Tarrlok was at the Council Hall, with several other Councilors and bureaucrats; it would have been an ironic and not so funny twist, that the leader of the Equalist was a bender and…

Okay, I admit that I freaked out everyone when I groaned and smashed the table and the Pai-sho board that Asami and I were playing that; but I had an epiphany, a not so funny epiphany that put all the mess with the Equalist even in a worse light than before.

I did nothing when I connected the Equalist with the Sato´s Future Industries, in fear of screwing with Mako´s love life and screwing for like Asami, who was a good girl. Fortunately, her daddy fucked himself when he was caught in his little secret factory.

But not this time, things could have gone very pear-shaped in the factory, so this time I will transmit my suspicions to everybody and see what we get.

And the less I thought about the Mecha Tanks the better, those things gave me a headache about the impossibility of their own existence; they violate all laws of physics I knew.

I had my suspicions all this time about what Amon truly was, I had an idea, an inkling of what could be his trick. I discarded it because it went against all I knew about it; the more I thought about it, the less sense it had unless it worked in a very specific way.

Something that should be impossible, yet, I am a Lavabender, something, also supposedly impossible until a cretin called Grañak or Ghabaz or something appeared and used it.

“Bo, what in Spirits name is wrong with you?”, Mako shouted at me and I raise my head from the wreckage of table and board, just to see an awkward Asami, smiling a bit worried at me.

“I would have let you won, you know”.

“Spirits; apologies sweetheart; I am an idiot; sorry for freaking you out”, I apologized to Asami, ashamed of my reaction.

I should have been more conscious of my surroundings, but I was thinking so hard that I lost focus of whats going on around me.

“Out with it, Bo, you only react like that when you had an epiphany of sorts". Mako knows me too well and knew that I had connected something that was impossible.

“I think I know how Amon does to cut bending”.

Cue in, jaws hitting the floor.


	6. No Pain, No Gain

 

I am going to be a bit obvious and say that dying in an explosion hurts as hell. 

An airship exploding in my face; as I took out two of them from chasing after Tenzin family; had the responsibility of putting me down for good. It was something that I did not expect, but at last, I took down a lot of Equalist wankers with me. 

To be honest, this has not been good days.

It all begun when Tarrlok put us in jail, for breaking the Non-bender curfew; yes, it has all sense, that me and my brother, both benders, went to jail for breaking a curfew for Non-benders; and we had to wait patiently until Tenzin or Korra finally bargain our exit.

Then we discovered that Korra has been taken by the Equalist and not-Chief Beifong got us out of jail. From then on, we just look out for Korra in the tunnels under the city. I knew of the existence of this places along the little hideout that the poorest sods in the city had a refugee.

In fact, its one of the few places in the city that the division between benders and non-benders was nonexistent. Bender and non-benders live together in peace and harmony. It was a lesson for everyone, how the supposedly lowest is actually showing that the dream of Avatar Aang is perfectly viable. 

I went a bit overboard, I will admit that I was a bit annoyed and pissed off with all this Equalist bullshit and the war that was brewing on the streets from the actions of a bloody hypocrite. I was one hundred percent that Amon was a bender, a Bloodbender to be precise and that he was using that same bending to pull his bending removing trick. 

I was still trying to decipher exactly how, considering it broke everything that we knew about bending and chi circulation.

So far, I have the theory that he is attacking the chakras on the body; blocking one of the chakras on the head could take away bending, it was a far shout and possibly an asspull, but so far is the only thing that fits.

It was not chi-blocking, No chi-block can block chakras; chi points, sure, but chakras? it would be needed a lot more than just putting his thumb on his forehead. It was not energybending either, it lacked the dense sensation of energy being passed and the spirit of Amon imposing his will over the spirit of the victim. 

After several shenanigans with the Equalist, we end up discovering that we have been scammed and actually Tarrlok was the one that has taken Korra out and he was a Bloodbender all this time. How, in sanity´s name, did Tarrlok managed to be a Bloodbender without the full moon and capable to take down all of us with a little move of his fingers, was something that I am still trying to decipher.

It broke everything I knew about bending and waterbending, but I am also something inexplicable in this world, so I am a bit partial here. I hate when things suddenly went so out of tangent that I am as freaking lost as the rest of people. I hate it, I hate it with a passion.

I hunted Tarrlok and by some miracle, I managed to find Korra; she was exhausted and trying her best to keep conscious and moving; if anything, I respect the sheer force of will of the lady; and I took her and took her to the Air Temple for her recovery.

Tarrlok has been taken by Amon, something that was practically equal to declare war to the bloody city. Tarrlok being kidnapped and remove from his bending was a very bold move that Amon; I will admit that the man could be a bastard but he really had all the city by the balls. 

We helped Korra to recover from her ordeal, and she explained us who Amon really was.

“I called it”, I grumbled under my hat at the tale of Korra.

She revealed that Amon was the son of another Waterbender that could Bloodbend at will. A former crime-lord called Yakone, that put the city on its knees until Aang Energybended the tar out of Yakone.

Unfortunately, we had little time to do anything with that discovery, when Amon played his hand and practically took the city by the strength of arms. Attacking Councilors, kidnapping them, putting Mecha Tanks in the streets and neutering the police; hordes of Equalist walked the streets looking for anyone that oppose them and they even put a massive Amon mask on Aang´s statue at the entrance of the city.

Tenzin barely managed to get out of the ambush that they shot his way; I was along Beifong when the Equalist came into Air Temple to catch the last Airbenders of the world. And in a horrid moment of coincidental, Pema went into labor at the worst possible time. 

They come and I welcome them with boulders to the face. I didn't even bother to pull my punches in front of Beifong, she was no longer Chief police so she could hate me all she wanted. I had to refrain myself a little with the children fighting at our side, but when they escaped, I had free reign to made them suffer.

I invaded one of their airships and blow it, taking the other airship that has come to the island and blowing the both of them to hell. I don't know how many people did I take with me, but I miscalculated the explosion and I was pretty much, sent flying into the waters around the island.

In resume, I was screwed.

What I did not expect was to found myself in the middle of a dark space, sitting around a tea table, with my old friend Iroh and a big owl?. The only illumination that we had was the lamp that hangs over us and the little fire that heated the teapot. I was dressed in my usual suit and hat, Iroh had his green and gold tunics and the owl was a big specimen of white face and black feathers. 

“So, I screwed it up and end up dead?", I directly asked the audience. 

“Perhaps”, nodded Iroh, not really seeing the point of beating around the bush. “Your body is heavily wounded, but your spirit is as strong as ever, my friend”.

"Nice to see you too, Iroh", I took the cup of tea he offered to me and I enjoyed the taste of the Jasmine tea. It was quite different from any other, perhaps because it was spiritual tea?. "And you might be?", I stared at the owl and the owl stared back at me.

Why I have the sensation that I have seen this owl before?.

I raised my eyebrow, a staring duel with a giant owl was not what I was expecting this morning, to be honest. But it is a curious experience, point is, that we look at each other eyes and there was something familiar in them. This owl and I know each other, I don't know how the only other owl I have ever meet was Wan Shi Tong and this owl was not Wan Shi Tong...I think it is familiar but different at the same time. 

Well, Spirit World had little sense these days; it was worst than an acid trip sometimes.

“Your body is wounded, but your spirit is strong and is simply waiting for a chance to get back into his home”, said Iroh, drinking his own tea. “This young man, just come out of your spirit and into this little refugee in the Spirit world, when you came to this world for the first time”.

“It´s a bit darker than I remember”. Well, I was wounded, so I assume it would have something to do with that. “But, I will assume that it has something to do with how I have taken an explosion to the face”.

“Yes, that is uncomfortable”, Iroh laughed softly. “You are still alive, but I don't know how long it will take to reunite your spirit with your body”.

“I am not in a hurry", I laughed. In truth, I was, I was in the middle of a war in the city, but it was clear that right now, it was out of my hands. 

“You are a bit more patient than I remember", said Iroh, renewing the tea on the teapot. 

“I had a very enlightening experience with the bigger version of our silent friend”, I signaled with my head to the owl that has been standing there, in silence, all this time.

Even for the Spirit World, it was rude of him to be just like that.

“Not that I am not happy to see you Iroh", I said to the other Spirit, "always a pleasure to speak with you, but this little owl is starting to make the situation awkward". 

“Ah, well, when Spirits decided something, is difficult to change their minds”, Iroh chuckled at how I am looking at the owl and the owl is looking at me.

And we are back to the staring contest. This is a bit ridiculous, but having a staring duel with a Spirit owl of some kind, is way down on my to-do list this days. Alas, trying to force something out of a Spirit is a very hard and hazardous task. I learned that the hard way when Wan Shi Tong almost gutted me in the Library.

Iroh observed all the situation with amusement, he was my guide at the beginning, when I made my entrance into this world, and now, he was here when I get too close to death. Curious trivia, owl are symbols of death in some eastern cultures. Curioser and Curioser, I think I am glaring daggers at the Grim Reaper. 

I am unsure if I should notch this moment on the “I am badass” or “I am an idiot” list.

Probably on both. Percival training had this kind of shenanigans.

Considering that the owl is not saying anything, I will take the more talkative and helpful option and ask Iroh why was the feathered Spirit here.

Spirits never made an appearance, unless shit is going to hit the fan in tsunamis. I knew that from the knowledge that I got from the Library of Wan Shi Tong.

Speaking of that place, it is almost funny how the big owl created the Library for the betterment of humanity, however, several humans that entered there only took knowledge with the intentions of war. 

The worst of those cases was a man called Zhao. He burned a hall filled to the brim with invaluable scrolls because he feared that the knowledge of them would be used against the Fire Nation during the Hundred years war. Lately Zhao slew the Spirit of the Moon, almost provoking a global catastrophe.

Only the sacrifice of a young lady, taking the place of the Spirit of the moon, fixed the disaster.

After seeing what the humans have done with the knowledge of the Library and how the very same Avatar Aang used the Library as a method of discovering the solar eclipse that cut the bending of the entire Fire Nation; it was hardly a surprise how Wan Shi Tong shut down the entire place.

Finding it has been hard enough, entering into it was another nightmare and the battle with Wan Shi Tong was another horrid moment. I never wanted to fight the owl, but when I offered all the knowledge of another universe and the experiences of a lifetime in it; the owl went ballistic and attacked me. 

I have the scar to prove it, and It was the closest I have been to death until the zeppelin exploded in my face. Another of my not so brilliant moves; never use Lavabend inside of a very explosive airship. At the end of the battle, I took down the zeppelin and possible any other reinforcements the Equalist brought to the Air Temple Island; but I almost took myself down in the process.

Supposedly, I am still alive, somewhere out there; hope someone friendly; will found me and take me to a safe place where I can recover. Or the Equalist find me and will parade my broken ass all over the city as part of their propaganda about bender oppression.

In this dark Spirit refuge of something, I don't know whats going on outside; and that irked me a bit. I always hated to be in the dark, even if I did it to myself.

I always have been very cautious about what I do in this world. Not only became of my bending skills and brutality; after I mix with Bolin, I have been living in a world of cardboard. I kind of understand the Avatar sometimes, thanks to the Lavabending I was a dangerous person; the Avatar was a nuclear bomb to my missile, but at the core, it was pretty much the same.

Be extra careful on your actions, for you can cause a lot of damage in a moment of distraction or rage.

Remember the warehouse that I blew to oblivion?, I did it in two minutes, and that´s was me being careful and paranoid about being caught. If I had a free pass, I would have collapsed the entire thing in five seconds. Now imagine I start to do the same all over the city; using the tunnels and the confusion to turn the city into a lava pit.

I grew among corpses in a war, and later I become a soldier into a world war and had to endure the colossal screw up that was Vietnam and how people treat their own war veterans. I knew war, and I knew how to turn all this situation in a massacre that would leave the city in ashes. As Percival, I knew how to destroy the city, brick by brick and look good doing it.

But I am not interested in that.

I am interested in Pro-bending, I am interested in helping Korra to become the best Avatar ever, I was interested in know her better, I was interested in helping my brother and her girlfriend to make a life together after how Asami´s father screw the pooch off.

I was interested in helping Jinora to develop her amazing spiritual skills, I was interested in have debates about history and spirits with Tenzin; I was interested in learning about Metalbending with Chief Beifong, I was interested in doing something useful with my Lavabender. 

I had a lot of things to do, so no, I did not want to prolong this bloody and stupid conflict more than that was necessary, but this was not my world. This was the Avatar´s world and responsibility, I was only trying to help her to recognize the tremendous responsibility that being the Avatar truly is.

In fact, I even made the plaque I promised her that I would make. I had it in my room in the Air Temple, I was waiting for the moment when I had my own apartment to hang it on the door. I promised and I was determined to honor my word. Its one of the few things I had. 

“Seeing that our feathered friend is going to be silent", I spoke to Iroh but kept my eyes on the owl. "Would you so kind to help me understand why is the owl here?". 

“This is your Spirit world my friend”, Iroh chuckled, drinking his tea. “You should be the one explaining it to me, why is an owl in your soul?”.

“Actually, I have no idea", I confessed. "The only other owl I know tried to kill me, actually, all the animals try to kill me when they are not scared of me". 

“Spirits leave marks like that”, Iroh nodded. “In your case, is a more physical one than usual, but you are also not a usual individual”.

"I am wise enough, to recognize that I am a fool most of the times", I smiled and took a sip of my tea. Staring duel aside, I will be damned if I do not enjoy this good tea.

“All of those that I know, would confirm that I am totally out of my mind”.

“Yet, they all trust you", chuckled Iroh. "Confidence and trust are a fragile, yet very valuable gift, once it's earned, its a treasure, but also, a big responsibility to maintain". 

“I know, I almost broke that same trust, several times”. I chuckled also.

Now I can laugh at my mishaps, but at the moment I did them, they were seriously dangerous moments that could have hurt those that I care about. I don't have that many people, so each loss was a big one for me.

“My nephew committed a lot of mistakes too", laughed Iroh, remembering the past. "But I am proud of the man he has become". 

“Fire Lord Zuko”, I nodded. “His fall and uprising to the throne of the Fire Nation is a well know tale, like the rest of the members of the clique of Avatar Aang”.

“They achieve great deeds indeed", Iroh smiled remembering parts of the adventures that he lived during those days. "but the road to those achievements was full of obstacles and moments that I thought that I had lost my nephew to the dark of his heart". 

“Considering his environment as he grown up, I would say that Fire Lord Zuko has done very well". It was the truth, Zuko was practically birth and grown to be a tyrannical asshole and because he rebelled against that, he was scarred by his own father and kicked at every turn by the sociopath of his sister. 

“Ah, what´s the expression you youngsters tend to use?”, Iroh commented looking at me. “Takes one to know one?”.

You clever old man. There was something that Iroh and I shared, beyond our true ages; and it was that we are war veterans and knows how wars have broken good men into paranoid and stressed wrecks, unable to keep up with the constant tension of the battle. 

The worst the conflict, the worst the consequences.

I saw a lot of good friends gone mad in Verdun and Monte Casino; two of the most brutal battles of the two World Wars. At the end of the day, after you have witnessed so many deaths and corpses that the faces blurred, you either go mad or learn to cope with it. It's not easy, so much I can guarantee. 

“Well, as soon as I wake up I will be in the middle of a war". I shrugged. 

Calling war to what Amon was doing was a bit of a stretch; Amon could put the city down, yes, but as soon as the other Nations get an ear of how he was capable of remove bending, I suspect that they will fall on him like wolves.

Republic City may be hostile to benders, but the rest of the world would see Amon as the lunatic that he is and would want him, death. Amon seems to have forgotten that he is sitting on the coast in front of the Fire Nation and totally surrounded by the Earth Kingdom. 

A single pincer tactic with enough benders and they will turn Republic City into a pretzel, no matter how many Chi-blockers Amon could have.

Oh, the Mecha tanks were dangerous, so much was true, but again, they had a limited number of them and once Amon declared his manifesto to the rest of the world, Republic City would be under siege. Without gasoline and other resources, the Mechas are just big a paperweight.

“A war that is not good for anyone”, sighed Iroh in sadness. “I am afraid that Amon´s delusions may provoke another darkness like the one I lived”.

“Believe me, I had my own ax to grind with Amon". The man was a total liar. 

I do not know what his endgame was, but Equality was not among his priorities, way far from it.

His cause could have been just; in fact, considering what happened with the Fire Nation during the Hundred Years War, it could have been something possible that the stigma against benders; as the considered themselves over the rest of the populace; would infect the populace in time.

But I have been living in Republic City for all my life, and I knew that the benders are not some kind of overlords that dominated the masses.

Heck, if that was the case, I would be living in opulence, as I am one of those oppressors that they ranted to so much about; and it was clear that I am not living in opulence. In fact, my boss in the Pro-bending was a non-bender and an asshole that took advantage of us and my brother at every turn to keep us poor and obedient.

“I will not even try to hide my intentions, I am not a hero or a good man for that matter", I shrugged, telling the truth. "I want Amon´s head on my wall because he threatened people that I care about, and that´s all". 

“In the name of protecting those we love, we tend to do things that we never thought we could". Iroh nodded with sadness in his voice, he knew that very well. "But, even in the dark, we always seek out for the light, my friend, otherwise, we will only see darkness around us, and that´s a cold and solitary place to be". 

“I know, I almost go there”. Those six months taught me much, but at a great prize.

Ironically, the scars of the talon from my chest come from a specimen a bit more big that the one that was locked in a staring duel.

A sudden spike of pain in my chest and the back of my skull made me wince and close my eyes, cutting the duel. That has not been pleasant, it hurt a lot and it was totally unexpected, that means that I am going to awake, soon?.

“Ah, it has begun”, said Iroh with a mixture of sadness and pride. “Remember old friend, even if you fight in the darkness, you can always look out for the light”.

I was about to ask Iroh what he was trying to say there when I was taken from the little refuge and right into a very uncomfortable state of half awake half pain. I can smell the wood, metal, and stone; the sweat of my body over some rags or something. I can hear sounds and feel the aches and burns on my body. Boy, I am a mess. 

“Easy, kid, you are in a very bad shape”. The voice of Chief Beifong reached my ears, as a hand was over my shoulder, keeping me laying on a mattress of some sort.

With a loud groan I opened my eyes, just to shut them in a second, Spirits damn it, they hurt a lot.

“Spirits, I am alive”. I groaned and tried to get a more comfortable position.

Not that I achieved any success, but it was enough to tell that I was not crippled. Hurts everywhere, but I can move, that was something. Also, my suit was tattered and my hat nowhere to be found. I look as if I have gone ten rounds with a meat grinder.

“Yes, you are", snorted Beifong. "You are a lucky boy; after the stunt, you pulled and blasted the airships to smithereens, the Equalist found you floating in the water near the wreckage". 

“How screwed are we?", I simply asked and she suddenly looked at me with surprise on her face. 

“What on earth? what the hell is that?". She pointed to my face. 

“Chief, what is Spirits name are you talking about?", I asked her, raising an eyebrow at her sudden outburst. There was something on my face? not she would have noticed as he was taking care of me in this cell. So it must be my eyes. 

She polished her badge and passed it to me so I can see myself in the reflection. Wait, why has she not bend?, ah, uh, Spirits, Amon must have got to us and block our bending skills. In my case, I am not entirely sure, later I will try to bend. 

If Amon is a Bloodbender as I guessed he was, trying to cut my bending when I was so beaten by the explosion would be different from usual, meaning I may retain a bit of it. But that was a very big If and I am not entirely sure that it works that way.

I stared at the reflection of the badge. Uh, I am battered and bruised, and the pain in my chest and limbs would possibly mean that I have cracked bones and ribs. This is not the first time where I miss being a Waterbender and study as much healing as I could.

However, my eyes made me drop the badge on the mattress. Spirits I have deep green, owl-like, eyes. 

What in sanity´s name is going on here?.

Stop, wait, calm down, let's analyze this carefully.

I was marked by Wan Shi Tong when I fought and supposedly defeated him in the Library.

My scar was the proof of it and the faint Spirit sensation that it emanated and repulsed all animals.

Once I was on the verge of death; I had another out of my body experience, on where I meet an old friend and a big owl who was faintly reminiscing of Wan Shi Tong.

Now I am awake and I had the eyes of an owl. Luckily, there was no other marking in my body like feathers or sudden discoloration, talons or something on those lines. Chief would have reacted very differently if it was the case.

“Spirits". I mumbled and closed my eyes, resting on the mattress. 

This is an entire new headache that I was not ready to face. Especially when I can only boil the explanation to two possibilities.

Wan Shi Tong tried to possess me and he failed?; or I carried with me a piece of Wan Shi Tong and I am the cradle of a new Spirit of knowledge.

None of the options looks especially appealing to me.

“You okay, kid?", the voice of Beifong called to me from the side of the cell. I look at her and I realize that even in the dark conditions of the cell I can see her perfectly fine. Night vision, proper of a night creature like the owls. 

“No”, I confessed. “I am not, but lay it to me Chief, how screwed are we and where are we?”.

“I am no longer Chief", she snorted in self-deprecation. 

“For me, you will always be Chief”, I shrugged. “And I seriously doubt you are not going to retake your post after all this debacle ends”.

“Aren't you a charmer?", she smiled at the corner of her lips. 

“Not really, my love life sucks", I half-joked; after all, it was the truth, my last "girlfriend" was a total psycho. "Now, back to business, status Chief, I am half broken but I am determined to find Amon, rip his head off and beat him to death with it". 

“I will pay to see that”, she laughed, but soon changed her demeanor to a more serious one. “Despite all our efforts, Amon had ships waiting for Tenzin and they caught Oogi when they were moving the baby, I think they are down the corridor”.

“Amon took out our bending", shit, I was hoping for a mistake, but Amon has been a clever bastard so far. "And locked us here, from time to time, a couple of guards came and check out us; they made some first aid to you and toss you there". 

“Amon wants to parade my defeated and broken ass in front of the Equalist”, I guessed. “I kind of dissed him off in front of his audience and toss his wankers around like rag dolls in the Arena”.

“Good job”, she smiled with a raised eyebrow and I look at her with a raised eyebrow of my own.

“Sorry Chief, I am hallucinating, did you just congratulated me?”, really, I was a bit freaked out.

Chief and I have never been on the same page; maybe a bit of the corner of the book, but she was a cop and I a vigilante; the best of the days; and a complete menace to society, the rest of the days.

“I am no longer Chief”, she reminded me, “you can go vigilante to your heart content against this bunch of idiots”.

“Spirits, it is truly the end of the world", although the last word came a bit of whine as I stood up from the mattress. 

Chief moved to my side to help me, I must be most beaten that I thought.

“Its a miracle that you are even alive, Bolin". She called me for my name. Do the miracles ever end?. 

“I am a terrible patient", I said and I stubbornly raised to my feet, wobbling a bit, but managing to stand up on my own. 

In a second, I have already made a mental image of the cell and the hall beyond that. Without bending we should be screwed, but the Equalist forgot that I was a street rat too. The lock of the cell was a standard one. The ones that you can bough in any hardware shop. The kind that I have lock-picked for a living when I was ten years old.

Percival taught me to unlock these kinds of locks in my sleep.

The worst part was to convince Lin; it was time to bury the hatchet between us, even if we butted heads more than once and we will in the future, she was as stubborn as I was; to part ways with pieces of her armor, especially the metallic cables. 

With that, I could put together a lockpick, and get us out of the cell.

I was without my bending, but right now, I am in the worst possible mood that I could be, and that means that I am going to retaliate against Amon and all his cronies in manners that would make an SS Kommandant puke his guts out in disgust. 

In a stroke of good luck, Tenzin and his family were only watched by a couple of Chi-blockers, and without a bending to take from me, I broke them easily. Although, I was hissing all the fight, because of my wounds. In all, I should have left Lin to deal with the guards, but I was unable to stop myself and I was angered to a dangerous degree. 

Tenzin and his family were relatively well, a bit bruised, but Pema and the baby, Rhoman; was fine and that was what mattered. As much as I wanted to get out of the place with them, I knew that I was the weak link in the chain. I was wounded and broken, that means that Lin could take them out of the building and into a safe place, as I raise hell and made them chase down. 

They protested something that I appreciated more than they suspect, by I was on the right on this one. In fact, best of all was how they had little problem with my new eyes. Jinora saw the touch of the owl in me in a second, and despite how shocked they were for the sudden mutation on me, they had zero problems with all. Meelo even said that they were cool, perfect for Scary Bo.

That actually made me laugh, and bend in pain. Laughing with cracked ribs is never a good idea.

We separated once we reached a metal door, I say my goodbyes to them and once they were on the other side, I blocked the door. The Equalist are going to need a welder to pass through that. Thankfully, I had weapons from the Equalist that we have taken down and those were more than enough to make me dangerous enough to be chased over the place. 

Thing is, this place was not the usual warehouse of the Equalists; I have blown one to pieces and study three more, to be able to recognize their designs. So, if this was not a warehouse, where was I?. The only thing that came to my mind, was another of the stages that Amon used to shout his propaganda for his idiotic followers.

Moving through the place, I discovered several depots of weapons and armors and I lost no time in dressing myself and equip with some extra gear to continue wrecking havoc in the place. What called me the most was the presence of a couple of Mecha Tanks and an elevating platform with wooden poles.

They were identical to the very same ones on where I was tied when I meet Amon for the first time.

Then I smiled like a madman and start my own little staging; it was risky and foolish, but if my gambit paid off, I was going to destroy all the Equalist movement. 

As I worked in my little madman scheme, I thought for a second, that It was a pity that the Equalist were a bunch of wankers.

The idea behind all this was not all that bad, unfortunately, they applied it in the worst possible scenario, inciting a civil revolt that was unnecessary and that would destabilize an already unstable place, to begin with.

Spirits, a hundred years ago; Amon would be considered a world-class menace. Bending made the world move, in a relatively clean and efficient way. Technology; even if it has its uses; would be more harmful than good in the long term.

Gasoline, charcoal, wood, concrete, steel, resources that are necessary to make a place like Republic City grow and prosper will create problems in the future, and do not make me start when they began to realize the smog that covers the city.

Unless they discover that Tesla trick with electricity, I have seen a glimpse of that in the same electric globes that I am wearing right now.

The radio on basement cracked with sound; someone was asking for the Airbenders to be tied and moved to the platforms for the speech. Smiling like a madman, I answered to the radio and said that I will take care of it. In a sense, I was totally right, I have dealt with it already. 

The worst was to build my bloody trap with all my body aching everywhere. I am convinced that my ribs are cracked and that hurts when I breathe. In fact, I suspected that I have broken something during the battle with the guards to liberate Tenzin and his family. I will deal with it later, right now I am busy. 

Finally, I end uploading into the platform all I needed and I sat on a chair, resting my back on the wide side of one of the big gasoline depots in the basement. The Mecha Tanks and vehicles needed gas and they had a couple of big metallic depots here to refuel them. The depot had the plug removed and my gloved hand on it. 

I sighed and tried to push the pain back off my mind, I need all my wits for what I am trying to pull. A bit of a rest would supposedly do me some good. I have just awoken from being blasted into the coast of the Air Temple, I have discovered that I have been altered by the presence of the bloody owl in my body and I have my bending removed. 

So far, I am working on adrenaline and hate, something that will expire soon, I am afraid. I am already running on fumes.

The platform started to get up and I smiled widely. It was time to get this show running.

I will say, that the freaked out expressions of the people in the theater that I have ended up appearing was quite the sight.

I can not say, as Amon had his mask on; but I will eat my hat, if he is not with his jaw hanging like an idiot. Not that I blame him, I must be quite the spectacle right now. 

When the platform got up, what was in the platform, was me, sitting on a chair, leaning on the two big depots of gasoline and with an electrified globe over the opened plug of one of the gasoline deposits.

I am sure that Amon did not have this in mind when he planned all this spectacle.

“Ey, Noatak, think fast”. My eyes focused on him, and I am sure that with my new appearance I must be quite frightening. “Bend or die”.

This was the real problem of all the trick I was trying to force Amon to reveal his Bloodbending; I had to attack to his instincts, I had to force his reaction to be Bloodbend or otherwise die. I had to admit that my new eyes sure came handy for intimidation now.

The pain comes and I laughed with all I had, trying to hide the pain that I am experimenting. I was brutally bloodbend, and considering how my body was already working on fumes and with this final push, my bones broke.

Spirits, my arm shattered when Amon bloodbended my gloved arm. It was bend in the wrong direction and pushed to the other side of the stage. My left arm was a mangled joke at this point, but it mattered little.

I laughed, I laughed hard and stare at Amon, smiling like a madman.

This pain tasted like freaking victory, this pain tasted like I have destroyed the Equalist to their roots, demonstrating that their leader was a freaking liar. If the payment for screwing Amon ten times over is this pain and a broken arm; Spirits, I welcome it with open arms.

Between the panic that I have provoked; the mass public was running to the exits; and the reveal that Amon was nothing but a bloody fraud, I see Korra and Mako jumping from a balcony and into the stage, where Amon was even attacked by his own men for his betrayal.

Unfortunately, Amon was hardly defenseless, now that his bloodbend was on the open, he used it to escape into the back of the stage.

Spirits, he must not escape, the last thing we needed, is a cretin like him with a vendetta against us and with a power like that abomination of super bloodbending on his sleeves. Although, I am difficulty in any position to initiate a persecution, much less with my arm broken like this and my body demanding to rest for the rest of the century.

Korra and Mako were at my side as soon as they landed on the stage, they say something but I was a bit shock by pain; smiling at them, I tried to stand up, but my legs must have taken damage too as they only tremble a bit before I collapsed.

Korra and Mako grabbed me before I fall and I just groaned at them to forget about me and go after Amon, to put an end to that rabid dog. I assume that they protest because they said something and looked at me surprised. I just insisted, not that I know what I said, I was fading fast and just pushed them a bit and with a lame joke, I urged them to chase Amon. 

Then I just fainted with a wide smile on my face.

Ah, perhaps they are freaked out about my new eyes, uh, well, I will explain it later, right now, I am going to faint like a little girl.

I think I have deserved a bit of rest.


	7. From rock bottom you can only go up.

 

I know the sensation of hit rock bottom.

When I was an old man and diagnosed my cancer, I was devastated. Although, I was an old man, I have lived more than enough and a rest was more than welcome; but the stages of cancer and how my family was stretched to keep up with it, was eating me alive with guilt and remorse.

Not to mention, how, as Percival, I was angered at the fact that a bloody cancer and not all the dangers that I have faced all my life, was the final responsibility of putting me seven feet under.

Right now, I am in a similar circumstance but completely different at the same time.

After the disaster with Amon´s staging; where I forced his hand and revealed to the entire congregation what he truly was; I was out for a couple of days. My body has taken a punishment that no sane person would have taken and I need time to recover if I ever recover.

Broken arm, cracked legs, cracked ribs, bruised even in the ego and with several ligaments and muscles torn by the explosion and the brutal yank that Amon delivered to me with his Bloodbending, in order to prevent me to blow the place to the next century.

I was lucky to be alive, that much was true.

I was not the only one affected by Amon´s revolution. A lot of people has suffered at his hands, I was just one of the extreme cases.

Later, I discovered that Amon; aka Noatak; and his brother Tarrlok, blow themselves up in a boat when they were escaping from the city. That was not something that I was expecting, but, in a cold, pragmatic, line of thought, I was glad that they were out of the picture. Powers such as their unique brand of Bloodbending are terrific and dangerous.

Even for a world like this, that has people tossing fireballs around like it was confetti.

I don't know much of what happened a couple of days after all this mess, I was unconscious and this time, I didn't even have a Spiritual vision like the previous time that I share a brush with good, old, Lady Death. Just sweet darkness and the absence of everything. Occasional and fledgling sensations, but that was all.

Healers at the hospital did an amazing job at patching me up; they could not take care of the worst of the wounds, as it was beyond their ability, but all in all, I did not lose anything important; like an organ or a limb; so I would say that I was lucky.

But without my bending, of course. Amon has taken it, and for the moment there was nothing that can be done about that.

Or so was what most people believed.

I suspected how was Amon doing it, and I had the nagging sensation that it was deeper than just permanently block chi-points with Bloodbending. I had the theory, that forcefully opening the Thought Chakra, just in the crown of the head, would lead to a reboot of the chi system to speak. It was incredibly dangerous and potentially suicide, but if I can make it work, I could recover all the removed bending from most of the victims.

Zolt could sod off for what I care, the triad leader had zero redeeming qualities in my eyes. I was only alive because he saw potential muscle and a source of income from the Pro-bending Arena.

Anyhow, I awake in a hospital room, feeling as if I had fight a no hold barred match against a tank. Sleeping on a couch of the room, Korra was huddled into a ball, with a blanket over her sleeping form. She is a beautiful lady, I have said it more than once, but now, I was seeing her puffy eyes and tired expression.

Night vision, one of the gifts of a failing possession of Wan Shi Tong, I believe, I am not sure how the heck happened; but now I had owl eyes.

I must be seriously creepy in a dark room.

I sighed and closed my eyes, making mental note of how banged up I really was, and promising myself to be more careful in the future. I was pretty sure that, that was not going to be the case, but it was nice to try.

There were bandages all over my body. I did not have that many lacerations or cuts, but the bruises and the burns of the zeppelin exploding in my face were not treated precisely good the first time, so it was hardly surprising that I looked like a mummy.

With all those things over my body, It was hard to move around so I just lay in the bed and meditate about what to do with my life now. Without my bending, I was little more than a meat bag, low-level grunts that are dime a dozen in the streets.

My professional careers were limited to say the last, but I had some ideas that I could sell to Future Industries to help with the fallout of Asami´s company and made some money for me.

Sadly, that´s all I have.

I did not want to impose on Tenzin and his family and it was that or try my hand at the Spirit world as Iroh has done when his physical body passed away. With the touch of the owl, I am sure that I would do fine in the Spirit world, I was hardly as blessed as little Jinora, but I was confident in my chances.

That´s always working on the worst assumption that my bending is gone for good and my crazy plan of electrocuting myself back to shape would not work. Electrocuting myself, that´s crazy; well, I was never much of sane person anyway. As Percival, I have done worse things, actually.

The hard part was getting my hands into an electric glove or baton, then it will be easy to apply that to a precise point of my head and with luck, force my chakra open and restart my bending.

Worst case scenario, I give myself an aneurysm, best case scenario, I got my bending back.

I sighed again and with the arm that is not covered in bandages I massaged the bridge of my nose, Amon has turned the city upside down; not that it was not already a bomb in the making, but, what Amon has done could very well, put an end to Republic City as we know it.

If someone does not discover a solution to his equalization bullshit, the police of Republic City would be in severe need of reinforcements. Just at the moment that the head of the biggest Triad in the city is down, provoking intestine wars among the triads and like tigersharks smelling blood, the rest of the mobs would jump at the chance to expand their territory.

Equalization my ass, Triads had non-benders too, and with the freaking armament that the Equalist had around, I am already foreseeing that a new mob is going to grow on the streets.

The Equalist whose anger has only increased after discovering that their idol was a fake, are going to become even more extreme; making things even more difficult for everyone around, bender or non-bender. And with the police half crippled by Amon, the city would have to resource to the army to keep things going on the streets, and that would lead to even more civil unrest.

Republic city was not keen to have another military force running around. They have seen three armies running down the streets in less than a freaking month, they don't need another one.

At this point I was seriously thinking running from this madhouse, Republic City is a bloody mess.

But Korra, Mako, Tenzin and his family, Asami...they are people that I care about, and leaving them for the wolves like this was the last thing that I will ever do. I commit that mistake before, and I will not commit it again. I think I have learned from my mistake.

A grunt from Korra, made me open my eyes and look at her; she was curling in the uncomfortable chair, surrounding herself with blankets. I have previously mentioned her puffy eyes, but right now, she was not having a good dream.

Considering that I was in a hospital, I would say that she has already taken Amon down, and seeing her puffy eyes and distressed body language, I assumed that something has gone terribly wrong. As I was the last one to see her, before she and Mako went after Amon, I was in the verge of having a mental breakdown, due to the only two conclusions that I could think about her stress and sadness.

Amon has taken her bending away or my brother was in an even worse state than I was. Neither of the options was pleasant, maybe even both happened, and if it that was the case, I was two seconds away of painting Republic City in Equalist´s blood, not really giving a shit about anything that was not avenging my brother.

I breathed deeply, trying to calm myself down. I was kind of stuck in the bed for the moment, so I needed to calm down and think; there was nothing that implies the death of my brother. Sadly, the idea of Korra´s bending being taken away was not that far-fetched, but I was already working on a possible solution and Korra had a very big advantage over me in that regard.

Avatars are not only powerful as hell, benders, they are capable of Energybend, manipulating the chi of the person and being able to remove the bending like Aang did you Ozai and Yakone; two of the most dangerous benders ever.

Korra has not demonstrated any spiritual affinity yet, however, I was convinced that Tenzin was going at it the right way, and that was precisely the wrong way.

Korra comes from a very spiritual people. Maybe in the Southern Water Tribe, they had lost some of it, but the thing is that perhaps she should have started some spiritual training with the Southern tribe, or, much better, a meditation trance.

Korra sucked at meditation, I know well, because she protested about it several times in front of me, but I knew a particular recipe, created by Guru Pathik; that once I have improved it a bit with cactus juice, will allow Korra to expand his mind and with luck, allowing her to consciously reach for her past lives.

I bet that the power of several Avatars of the past was more than enough to tell, whatever Amon has done, to sod off. Once she was cured, it was only a matter of leaving her cure everyone else.

One problem down, millions to go.

That seems to be the story of my life lately; each problem that is solved, only opened the door to even more problems. Well, I was a young man with an entire life ahead, and perhaps, my title of City Guru was not so inaccurate as I grumbled about it.

I still considered myself a dumb person most of the days, but I am trying to do better; I promise.

Korra huffed in her sleep and when she moved a bit, she drowsily opened her eyes, casually staring at my owl-like eyes.

“Hello sweetheart”, I said, realizing that my throat was patched. My voice was cracked, although I managed to smile for her.

Korra started to cry again, moving into my bed and hug me between sobs. That was not what I was expecting but only cemented my fears that something has gone very wrong. This girl does not have an idea of how strong she is; that platypus bear hug was already straining my poor ribs.

“Okay, love, easy”, I comb her hair with my not broken arm. “I am fine, a bit banged up, but mostly fine”.

Korra raised her face from my chest, but never let go of my body. Spirits, this was a bit awkward, she is an exceptionally beautiful Water Tribe lady, I am not accustomed to such displays. To be honest, my love life sucks.

“We thought you were dead", she said with a strangled voice. "We thought you died in the zeppelin explosion, defending Tenzin, then we saw you on the stage, broken and with the eyes and...". She was babbling at this point, her mouth was running parallel to her brain, running at a thousand ideas per second.

“Sweetheart". I called her raising her chin. "Breath". I ordered her to calm down a little and put some order in her thoughts.

Korra observed me with crying eyes and took a deep breath. I was still a bit awkward with her over me, but I was hardly in any position to do anything about it, I can only move one arm. My legs and broken arm were bandaged and my chest and part of my face were also covered. I have serious mobility problems right now. Luckily for me, even If I am in pain, my legs were not broken, so I can move around on my own.

However, what she did next, broke all my mental schemes.

I saw her sigh, took a deep breath, raise her chin, look at me with eyes filled with determination; something that made me feel a bit uncomfortable; grabbed my head and kissed me in the lips with all she had.

I freeze.

What do you expect?, I was completely taken by surprise. Korra kissing me like it was the end of the world? what? why? when did she get interested in me?. Okay, I liked her, that was hardly a surprise, she is my type. She is energetic, she is a brawler, she never backs off from a challenge, she had the best azure eyes ever, she was hell on high heels; point is that I liked her, but she likes me? that was totally unexpected, at last from my point of view.

But I kissed back.

It was really nice, delicious even. Even if I can still taste her tears in her sweet lips, she still carried an aftertaste of power, a wonderful sensation that I drank as much as I could. I must be doing something right because we kept kissing until biology; breathing needs; interrupted.

A trail of saliva connected our lips, Spirits, she is a great kisser.

“Spirits”..she whispered.

We both blushed to the root of our hairs and had an embarrassed smile on our faces. Then my ribs protested for the weight of Korra over me, Spirits, my own ribs are betraying me, I like being like this. Korra noticed my wincing a move to the side of the bed, never leaving me to go. I could get used to those hugs.

Now that I notice about that, where are my hugs?. I like my hugs. After all the shit I have been through, I would like some hugs, thank you.

Although I am the only one responsible for raising walls all over around me. Perhaps in a paranoia-inducing fear, but what´s done is done, luckily, this hot lady at my side has crashed through them.

Or I am just being hopeful; for the moment, I will count my lucky stars and see where this is going.

“I will admit, I never saw this one coming”, I confessed to Korra with an embarrassed smile.

“I...", Korra snuggled at my side, careful to do not cause more harm to me. I was a wreckage of a person right now. "I was confused as hell too. Once I saw Scary Bo and Nice Bo, it was even more confusing, but both of them were there when I needed them. They helped me, see me as more than the Avatar, cheer me up when I was down and taught me a lot of valuable lessons".

“Uh”, really?, I am quite the poet today. “You are welcome?, I only did because a friend was down, you are part of the few people that I actually care about”. It was a short list actually.

“I was a bit torn between you and Mako", she hid her face a bit. "I felt attracted to both and it was hard; Mako has a girlfriend, and they have been together for so long, and happy with each other, and you were so confusing, that I didn't know what to do".

“My bad, sweetheart", I chuckled embarrassed. "I always have been hard to read, only Mako can read me and only because we are siblings and he knows me better than myself some days, and maybe Pema, she is the other one that slapped me in the head from time to time, when I was being too much Scary Bo".

Korra giggled, hugging me a bit more, careful to do not hurt my poor ribs.

“I kind of asked her for advice and she told me to chin up and go for it. I was unsure, so I waited for a better moment and then we thought you died in the explosion of the Zeppelin". She resumed and her voice went serious as the tale continued. "Then, Mako and I were accusing Amon of being a fraud when you appeared, wounded, bruised and with those eyes...".

“Ah, yeah those”, I nodded trying to get my hand on her hair. She had a nice raven colored locks of hair. “I am afraid that my experience with Spirits has marked me in more ways than I expected”.

"I like them, they are just usual jade eyes, but intense and glowing in the dark", she looks at my eyes and I smiled widely.

“Glad that you like them, love”.

Her face frowned for a second and just laid over me; she was trying to order her ideas and told me what happened when Amon send me against the back of the stage like I was a crash dummy.

“Mako and I saw you, you appeared from nowhere, beaten and about to blow yourself up to take Amon with you and we panicked”; Korra continued with the tale. “Once Amon Bloodbend and show the entire audience that he was a bloody fraud, we tried to help you but you look at us; Spirits Bolin, you were scary; and ordered us to take Amon down, before you finally fainted”.

“Sorry for scare you like that”, I feel obliged to apologize, at that point; I was working on the fumes of the adrenaline of my body and I do not remember what I did or say.

“We chase after Amon but...", Korra voice cracked and just hide on my chest.

“Amon got to you first and took your bending; Spirits, he did the same to me. He took my bending too”, I ended the tale and cursed loudly.

“I can Airbend now, and nothing else", Korra snorted with barely controlled sadness, irony, and anger.

“What?”, that took me by surprise. That should not be possible….unless my theory of the chakras had a base and what Amon did was unblock the chakra that was making Korra not believing herself able to Airbend.

“I can Airbend now", she raised her head to look at me with a dark smile. "Ironic, uh?, I can bend the only element that I couldn't, I only have to lose the other three and being the Avatar to it".

“Love”, I called to her and she blinked for a second as my voice carried a lot of emotions in one sound.

“I think I know how to take our bending back”.

For the second time, cue in, jaws hitting the floor.

I am a horrid patient, but with a nurse like Korra around; speaking of which, Korra in a skimpy nurse outfit, Spirits, yes, give me a piece of that delicious chocolate pie; I had to shut up and stay in the hospital until the doctors were convincing that I was not going to die at the drop of a hat.

I have already mentioned all the damages that had in my body, and by the Spirits, I am lucky to be alive. But trying to keep me in the hospital was a foolish effort and especially after all the work that we had ahead of us.

Amon has screwed the city all ways to Sunday, and even if the majority of the Equalists are gone; the problems are still there. For what I recall from the radio and what I listened around and with those that come to visit; Republic City has chosen a president for the council to turn the system into a more inclusive system.

As a Republic City bender I was about to smash my head against a wall, more inclusive? what on earth?. This world was nuts. For what I care, Republic City was a mess and wanted to be a mess, so, have fun being a freaking mess.

I reunited with those that I care about and meet General Iroh, who was the poor chump that fall into the Equalist ambush with biplanes; somehow, Equalist had Biplanes and bloody Mecha Tanks, something that the rest of the world doesn't.

To be honest, I was surprised by Iroh´s name and position.

Not only for how he shared a name with a good friend but the fact that he was the admiral of a fleet. I felt as if the Union army was made on the spot as if someone with zero military experience has cooked up some ranks and put together in a sheet and made it official.

Still, I like the man, he was a good soldier that has the bad luck of being in the worst possible position at the moment. Not to mention, having to face unexplained tech and zero privacy of communications, as the radios of Republic City were under direct control of Amon.

Poor sod was screwed since the start and played directly into the hands of the Equalist since day one.

The worst was how the Police were in serious need of reinforcements. Amon has cut out the bending of enough Policemen to left the Republic City police in serious need of reinforcements. Considering the incoming turf wars on the streets, this was the worst possible moment.

Thanks to Amon´s lack of future sight, he has taken the bending of the head of the Triple Threat Triad, the man who has control over the biggest mob on the city and whose presence was of the few things that kept other mobs in check.

Now, the rest of the mobs are going to take advantage of the lack of policemen and the weakness of the biggest mob in the city. Blood is going to run on the streets unless a miracle happens and for what I care right now?, they can kill each other and I will be heating the popcorn.

Even worse, was that the technology that Daddy Sato has pulled out of his ass, was more than enough to screw the world balance ten times over. Mecha tanks that could put any non-bender in equal conditions with a lot of benders? biplanes that could destroy entire villages in a moment with bombs and there is nothing you can do about it?.

This was a bloody mess.

I managed to get myself out of the hospital; I was about to jump out the window; and had a very emotive reunion with my brother. He was convinced that I was dead and that terrifies him; to be honest, it happens to me too. If my brother would have been killed by Amon, I would have bathed the streets in the blood of Equalist, exterminating them, until nothing remains.

I still have severe sequels from the beating of the zeppelin and the Bloodbending of Amon, but I can move around relatively well and with luck and the help of healers, I will have my arm back in a week. I recover very quickly, partly because I am built tough and in part because I am a bender.

I didn't try my electric cure as soon as I got out of the hospital; it was something that must be done very carefully and with the help of people that knew their stuff. First thing, I had to get back on the Air Temple Island and ravage the library for the journals of Avatar Aang and his experience with Guru Pathik.

I knew about it, and I knew about the recipe for the beverage that Pathik gave to Aang to help him unlock his chakras. I pretended to do something similar to Korra. Korra needs to commune with her past lives and they would help her to Bloodbend her own chi pathways back to normal.

But just in case, I need a map of the Chakras, a map of the chi pathways, the schematics of an electric glove and a shit ton of luck to be able to pull a device out of my hat that could unlock whatever Amon has done to us.

My recovery in the Air Temple Island was just an added bonus. Without a home to call mine, I felt like I was mooching Tenzin family, but they soon cut that line of thought, for what they care, I was family. It warmed my dark, cold, heart, I will be honest.

Everything I possessed, could be stored in a big wood chest. At the beginning, I had a lot of books and scrolls that I loot from the Library of Wan Shi Tong, but those were already on the library of Air Island; the rest was just some mementos and my suits.

And a certain plaque than I hung on the door of my room, on the temple. The plaque said “I am a friend and a teammate of the strongest and most beautiful Avatar ever”

Korra saw it and grab me by my tie and kissed me in front of everyone.

I loved the kiss, but the situation was a  bit awkward and everyone laughed or congratulated us. I will have to make another plaque, saying that "I am the boyfriend of the strongest and most beautiful Avatar ever". 

With the material that I had in the Air Temple and the help of Asami, who was kind of impressed with my sudden knowledge of technology and ideas, we, more or less, made a schematic of what could be the tool that we needed to get our bending back. I liked bouncing ideas back and forth with her; it was one of the forms for us to bond, after all the time that I have passed trying to prevent something that, at the end, happened anyway.

At the end of the debacle in Sato´s Mansion and how Asami and General Iroh sabotaged the airplanes of the Equalist, Asami discovered the deeps of the hate of her father. It was a bitter pill to swallow. The man was a devoted father for most of his life, but the hate for the benders boiled under his skin and when Asami betrayed him for her bender friends, he went balistic.

I passed months running from her to prevent any damage to her relation with Mako and at the end, Daddy Sato screwed himself, by showing his bonds with the Equalist and what he has done to weaponize the very same people that have put the city upside down.

So, all my efforts were pointless; should I have known, I would have hung around with Asami a lot more; she is a nice girl, a way smarter than me lady and the best thing that has ever happened to my brother.

Asami took hundred of notes during our brainstorming sessions; with luck, people will start to turn their tech to electric Tesla-like, instead of steam. Electric is better, cleaner and bender-friendly.

Considering that Mecha tanks and biplanes are already a reality, the soon the technology cleans itself, the better. With the constant industrialization, soon Spirits will start to be seriously pissed off about the destruction of their ecosystems, and that will be a war that humanity is not freaking prepared to face.

As I recovered and Asami helped me built the glove; Korra finally trained her Airbending in conditions and in a very peculiar twist, Mako entered the police.

Lin and I also have the second civil conversation of our lives, she was the one that informed of what my brother has done, how he was one of the benders that the Police was so desperately needing and how he will quickly become a detective, as he had the wits and the street smarts to make it.

I was happy with it, really happy. Seeing that Mako is moving ahead with his life, made me happy. With that under his belt, he could start building a future together with Asami, and our past on the dark side of the city would be all but non-existent.

The only little problem of our past lives than I saw, was the Fire Ferrets.

Technically, there was no one that could take care of the Pro-bending team, supposedly under the patronage of Future Industries. Asami and I have already foreseen the problems that the company will be facing with the shadow of the Equalist over it. We assumed that a good Pro-bending team was a very nice publicity, but with Mako, Korra and I out of the competition, there was no Fire Ferrets to speak off.

I cut a deal with Asami. I knew people that could take our place on the team and they were good enough to stand at the top, the problem was, that they were all cage fighters from the Agni Kai.

Shen Hua could turn her gym into a legal business, and I knew four or five cage fighters about the same age as me or five years older tops, that hated the cages but was the only place where they could make some money to meets weeks end.

With a bit of legal magic from the lawyers of Asami´s company, the Fire Ferrets were back on business, ah, and I broke three of Shen Hua´s fingers to demonstrate that I was deadly serious. The worst of it, is that I am convinced that it only arouse her, and I totally ignored how she tried to convince Korra to pimp me to her for a weekend.

Traveling to the Southern Water Tribe was a bit of a conundrum for me, I had to travel by boat, as Oogi; Tenzin´s sky bison; was utterly scared of me. Pretty much like all animals I know. Also, my eyes were kind of intimidating for everyone that looks at them, they were pretty unnatural, and I am sure that in the future they are going to give me a lot of trouble. Night vision is kind of a welcome bonus, but I tend to stand out in the crowd and in the darkness, I must be creepy as hell.

Traveling by boat with Korra was a nice experience, we had a lot of tender moments and it was almost cute to see her worry about me, but I was healing pretty well. During the travel, I try to help Korra with her meditation, to help her reach her past lives.

During the time that she has been kidnap by Amon, she had this visions about Yakone and his sons, so she had the connection, but she was not attuned enough. Considering who she is, Korra needed a bit more spiritual enlightening in her life.

In all, we had a nice, trouble free, travel and we had the opportunity to know each other better. Not that there is much to say on my part; Mako already told Korra of how we lost our parents at the hand of Firebender mugger. From there on, it was a battle for survival for two young boys in Republic City.

Benders oppression, category five bullshit.

Korra, on the other hand, was all her life coddled in the Southern Compound; that´s a mistake of colossal proportions, but I assume that there must be a bloody reason for it. Otherwise, the White Lotus that Iroh created is a joke of what it was. Korra wanted to experiment life, to discover the world, and so far she only know two things.

The Spiritual lacking Southern Tribes and the chaos of Republic City.

That´s hardly a good resume for an Avatar.

The Avatar must travel all over the world, not only for learning the elements but to see and understand how the world and the customs of the different nations works. Avatar is the balance, and right now Korra is not balanced at all.

But again, Korra is young and inexperienced, nothing that could not be solved with time and life experiences. In fact, Korra has not mastered the three elements that she used; she needed to understand that bending is way more than just fighting, that would be her Airbending training I suppose, but with all that has happened, I understood perfectly well how it has been impossible for Korra to actually learn any spirituality.

Having a date on a boat was not an ideal thing, but beggars can't be choosers and for what I could recall, Korra enjoyed it. I am not precisely the best boyfriend material ever, but I am trying to be; Korra ticked all my fancy boxes and being pragmatic, someone like me will reign a bit her impulsiveness and guide her to be what she desired.

The strongest, most beautiful Avatar ever.

I am making a plaque with "I am the boyfriend of the strongest and most beautiful Avatar ever", as soon as I could. Again, I lack a door to call my own on where to hung it, but I think Korra would love the intention anyway.

On our arrival at the Southern Pole, the rest of our companions were already there waiting for us. It has been a while for her and Korra took her time to reunite with her family.

As I was expecting, Tonraq; Korra´s dad; was glaring daggers at me, however, with my new eyes is hard to even try to look at my eyes without feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Senna, Korra´s mom, was happy to meet me, although she was as taken aback by my eyes as anyone else.

Master Katara, Tenzin´s mother and wife of Avatar Aang, was also there. She has already treated Lin, as she was another of the victims of Amon. I had my theories, and I wanted to run by her; the best healer in the world, before I screwed things even worse.

Katara has seen the “scars” of the trick of Amon in Lin Beifong, and unfortunately, she could not reverse it by herself. That made me raise an eyebrow. What kind of bullshit Bloodbending did Amon have, that even the best Waterbender and healer of the world could not undo it?.

Well, I have my own bullshit theory to prove and essentially destroy all that has been writing about chakras and chi-systems. I will keep it under wraps, because I had the horrid sensation that using the glove of my theory on benders, could lead to incredibly powerful benders or worse, perhaps even awoke bending in those that had bending ascendants.

Katara wanted to see Korra and me, not only because Korra´s bending but because I was a total wreck, even if I could move around relatively well.

I will say that relaxing in the water pools as the chi of a real healer works its magic on you is quite the experience. I feel really envious of the healers, this is a really useful talent. Katara had bad news for me though.

As it happened with Lin, Korra and I have our chi paths blocked. I am still trying to understand how in sanity´s name does it work, but okay, we are screwed essentially. But there is the little tidbit in my eyes. Katara has only seen things like these in wounds made by Spirits, pretty much like the scars on my chest.

I missed my bending?, yes, I have been training for so long to master it, and suddenly a wanker stole from me with an impossible bullshit trick that had zero sense. But I am far from being desperate, bullshit put me into this, bullshit will get me out of this.

I show Katara the glove and explained her my theory.

If what Amon does was, basically, blocking the chi paths with Bloodbending, I had the theory that unlocking the Thought Chakra would, at a lack of a better term; reboot the Chi system, unlocking all chi paths, effectively removing whatever Amon has done.

Frankly, I am no healer, but I have a lot of knowledge in chi paths and chakras; I am a chi-blocker, just in case, and I studied a lot of chi bending theory in order to put this crazy theory together. I kind of impressed Katara, I believe.

Of course, she was the one that put all my mumbling and theories into something coherent and who corrected the glove instead of just punch yourself in the head and pray for the best.

The other plan that I have, and the one that they agreed was more sane and safe, was to help Korra reach the Avatar state.

Much like Aang did with Guru Pathik; I intended to get Korra achieve enough spiritual enlightenment to connect with her real power and with luck, her past life would have a solution that does not include electrocuting brains.

With the help of Katara, I set the meditation chamber and prepared the concoction. To be honest, it could be considered LSD on steroids, but I hoped that it will expand Korra´s mind enough for the spiritual connection to be made.

Drums, a beating sound, imitating the heart, a bonfire, echoing the breathing of a human, water waves on the outside, pushing and pulling; the blizzard outside, winds howling and moving in total freedom.

Korra sat in front of me, both dressed only in our underwear as we try to meditate. Thanks to the drink that I offered Korra, and her surroundings; Korra found easier to meditate than in other occasions.

“Focus, love", I whispered to her, with her hands resting on mine. "Feel your chi, feel your power".

“Your heart, drumming with the heart of the earth; your lungs, breathing with the air that howls and moves around you freely, water, pushing and pulling, always there, giving and taking, the heat that warms your skin, the cracking of the flames, emotions raw and always growing”.

Korra slowly smiled and I started to sense her chi, her life moving all over her body. Good, that was a good beginning.

“Your chi is yours, an infinite ocean of light that bends to your will; reach for it, call it back, your will expands and reach for what always has been yours”.

Even without my own bending, I could feel her power reaching for the elements that stood around her, her chi expanding, and thanks to my new eyes and sensations, I can say that she is a bloody powerhouse.

The t hing is...her chi was incredibly familiar, my own, blocked or not, was reaching for it, almost as if it was greeting an old friend after a long time without seeing him. How curious.

“Your power, your chi, feel it”.

“How it runs through your body, crackling, untamed, wild, primal; enlightening all your body, filling it with power and purpose”.

“Feel it, Korra, my love, feel the power”.

“You are no longer alone, you are part of something bigger, a state of balance and power”.

“The Avatar State”.

Energy like nothing I have ever seen, radiated from Korra; her skin and open eyes glow in pure white light. She emanates life, light, and peace along a tremendous sensation of power. Frankly, it would be intimidating if something inside of me didn't act as if she was like sunlight; like plants that greet the sun.

I can see other Avatars around her, an entire legion of notable individuals. I can recognize some of them for what I learned in the Library of Wan Shi Tong and the graphic depictions of the storybooks.

Avatar Aang, the most famous one, who was smiling at me with a grateful and playful smile; Avatar Roku, who had an eyebrow raised in amusement; Avatar Kyoshi, whose stern visage was observing me with curiosity; Avatar Kuruk and Avatar Yangchen who smiled at me, and so went the thousands of individuals, up to a young man of deep copper eyes and black hair, that smile widely at us with amusement and gratefulness in his eyes.

How curious; I can see spirits, but also, they are seeing something in me too, does that means that they can see my past life too? can they see Bolin or Percival? or the mark of Wan Shi Tong?. Well, they do not radiate hostility, instead, they all were grateful?.

I don't even know how to express what I was sensing right now.

Anyhow, part of me reveled in the presence of the Avatars and whatever light that emanated from all of them, a lingering and powerful sensation of light and peace.

They vanished into the light, joining Korra until she glows one last time and closed her eyes. The powerful emanation that I felt from her vanished too, but I caught a light display over Korra´s skin that indicated that a powerful spirit was now residing in her.

That was the origin of the Avatar? a spirit? curioser and curioser.

Korra opened her eyes and find me, supporting her hands, her eyes had tears of happiness in them as he smiled practically beamed in triumph and joy.

“So, how´s my favorite Avatar feeling?”, I asked and she tackled me into the ground, kissing me with passion.

Now, that´s what I call a wonderful reward.

There is still a lot of work to do, curing the wounds and scars that Amon has done to the city, restoring the bending of a lot of people and helping Korra become the wonderful Avatar that she was destined to be.

But right now, you will excuse me, if I simply take my time to enjoy to the fullest, some of the best things in life, like the sweet lips of my girlfriend, as we celebrate our moment of triumph over adversity.


End file.
